Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Logano wins first Cup title
Wild card passes Truex late in race, makes dream reality
HOMESTEAD — Joey Logano was relatively quiet during the four-driver media availability leading up to NASCAR’s final race of the season.
“Sometimes it’s best to keep your mouth shut, just go out there and kick ass,” he said.
Consider it done.
Logano, the wild card in the mix of NASCAR’s four playoff drivers, outlasted all of them to win his first NASCAR Cup Championship Sunday evening at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Logano took the lead from Martin Truex Jr. with 12 laps to go in the Ford EcoBoost 400 and cruised to the victory by 1.725 seconds. Kevin Harvick was third, followed by Kyle Busch, as all four drivers chasing a title finished in the top 4.
”We did it! We won the championship! I can’t believe it!” Logano said on pit road after the race.
The exclamation points were welldeserved. Logano was the only driver among the Championship 4 not to win a Cup title entering the race. And away from the insular crowd at Team Penske, he was hardly a favorite among many fans.
Logano was the first of the four to qualify for the championship mix in
Homestead, although under contentious circumstances. He squeezed past Truex’s car during a last-lap bumpand-run three weeks ago at Martinsville Speedway, pushing him out of the way.
Having been roughhoused, the normally affable Truex Jr. promised payback.
“I have a free pass,” Truex said during his media availability Thursday. “He already told me I could. He told me he’s fair game. So here we go.”
It never came to that as Logano easily finished first.
“I had nothing for him at the end,” Truex said.
Busch held the lead before smoke from Daniel Suarez’s car brought out the caution with 21 laps to go. Truex passed Busch after the restart and seemed to be primed to successfully defend his title, but then Logano easily played catchup without resorting to bump-and-run strategy.
“He beat these guys fair and square,” team owner Roger Penske said.
Penske had a bit of blind faith in July 2012 after one of his drivers, AJ Allmendinger, failed a drug test. A ride opened up, and Logano slid into the slot off the recommendation of Brad Keselowski.
Logano could have easily been lost in the shuffle of many speed racers whose careers fizzled for different reasons. With the proverbial door closing, Logano got a chance that changed his career.
“I sat down with Joey and his dad,” Penske said Sunday night. “No agents. It was just us sitting down and shaking hands on what we were going to do.”
Logano, who had struggled in his first four Cup seasons at Joe Gibbs Racing, did not disappoint.
Logano, 28, had 20 victories going into Sunday’s race and had finished no lower than eighth in all but one season since 2013. The glitch came in 2017 with a 17th-place finish.
“I’ve worked my whole life to win a championship,” he said. “We’ve been so close. … I was going to pass that car no matter what.”
The victory was the proverbial wrap-up of a fabulous year for Logano. In January, Logano and wife Brittany welcomed their son Hudson Joseph, the couple’s first child.
And just on Thursday night, Logano received the fourth annual Comcast Community Champion of the Year Award. Comcast established the award in 2015 to honor NASCAR industry members for their philanthropic efforts.
Logano’s philanthropic heart was evident on Saturday night when he helped give away 100 Publix turkeys to needy families for Thanksgiving.
“That piece to me is important to do,” he said earlier this week.
Then onto more important business Sunday evening. Leading up to the race, Logano said that championships don’t always define careers.
“There are some great race-car drivers, some of the best — Mark Martin comes to mind — that I think of as a champion in a lot of different ways.”
Logano became the eighth different driver to win a NASCAR Cup Series championship with Ford Performance. It’s the second series title for Penske.
Logano celebrated with family: His parents — who gave him his first go-kart one Christmas when he was a 6-year-old growing up in Connecticut, giving him the inspiration to race cars for a living — as well as Brittany and Hudson, who fit snugly into the championship trophy for a photo-op.
“When you see the people you love the most, that’s when you break down the most,” he said. “To celebrate that moment with them is so special.”
Joey Logano will no longer need any asterisks on his resume. He is a NASCAR champion.