Joey Logano tallied a respectable ninth place starting position for Sunday’s Grant Park 220 in Chicago. (Photo: Kevin Bowman | The Podium Finish)
CHICAGO – It has been a feast or famine 2023 season for Joey Logano, the two-time and defending NASCAR Cup Series champion.
When Logano has been competitive, he has been competitive and in the mix for a win or a solid top five or top 10 result. Then, there are the off days where the driver of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang is searching for speed and answers by race’s end like last Sunday’s Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway.
Then again, drivers like Logano have a short-term memory in terms of the good and bad, putting their focus on the next, upcoming race. In this case, the 32-time Cup race winner has his sights on his 33rd victory in Sunday’s historic and inaugural Grant Park 220 in Chicago.
Namely, it is the series’ first street course race in the modern era. Moreover, it is a true, crossover event in which a major sports city like Chicago has the thunder and lightning from NASCAR’s latest stocker in the Next Gen or Gen-7 stock car.
For those who may not follow NASCAR on a regular basis, these cars resemble an everyday sports car or sedan from the dealership. More impressively, there are brave women and men who leap over the pit road wall to reel off sub-9 second pit stops to change tires and refuel these machines driven by equally courageous racers with unique stories to tell like Logano.
It is no secret that Logano was perceived as stock car’s next best young prospect. Originally from Middletown, Connecticut and by way of Georgia, the tenacious racer cut his teeth in Bandoleros and Legend cars, the equivalent of a stick and ball athlete learning their ways in Little League, middle and high school sports.
Highly touted by Toyota Racing Development, Logano was under the wing of Joe Gibbs Racing from 2008 to 2012, racing alongside the likes of Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin. Not long after, Logano joined Team Penske, a motorsports conglomerate known for its success in sports car, INDYCAR and stock car competition.
Names like Mark Donohue, Rick Mears, Emerson Fittipaldi, Danny Sullivan, Mario Andretti, Al Unser Sr., Al Unser Jr, Rusty Wallace, Helio Castroneves, Sam Hornish Jr., and Will Power are among those who have made their presence known with the organization.
Logano has the makings to be a contender for Sunday’s race. (Photo: Kevin Bowman | The Podium Finish)
Logano has been equally responsible for the sustained successes of Penske in NASCAR with 31 of his 33 career wins tallied with the storied team. Without a doubt, for new NASCAR fans in Chicago, Logano is a flashy but complete athlete with superstar appeal.
On track, Logano embraces any kind of track and challenges inherent in stock car racing. Such embracement was evident in Saturday’s on-track activities despite posting the 23rd fastest time in practice, qualifying in the ninth position.
Regardless of how the race goes, Logano has an open mind about this unprecedented race but has liked what he has seen thus far.
“The jury’s still out,” Logano said. “We haven’t raced yet. So far, I’d say it’s a success from a lot of different things. I told some people from NASCAR that even if the race is just okay, it’s a success because of where we are and the marketing that’s come along with it.
“So many people in Chicago are talking about NASCAR racing right now. They may not have talked about it or ever heard about it – or interested in it – and they’re going to come see it. Hopefully, you hook them into loving the sport like we have so many others. From that standpoint, it’s already a win for our sport.”
The versatile racer points out how there is very little margin for error when taking on the 2.14, 12-turn street course in “The Windy City.”
Perhaps Logano may follow the ways of van Gisbergen and Button to head to the front of the pack. (Photo: Kevin Bowman | The Podium Finish)
“We’ll see how the race goes,” he said. “There are some really tricky spots on the racetrack. It’s hard. It’s like, you push a little too much, you’ll wreck your car. It’s definitely going to be tough.”
In Logano’s case, he has decent track position from Row 4. Still, he must keep his wits about him and perhaps follow the passing opportunities that a couple of street course experts may present in the opening laps.
“I don’t know what to think,” Logano said. “Probably the two guys that have run street courses (Jenson Button and Shane van Gisbergen) before, that are really fast, they probably know a lot more than us at the moment. They kind of just showed it (in qualifying), kicked all our butts for jumping into these cars.”
