By Rick Minter
Maybe that “Sliced Bread” nickname that Joey Logano’s backers hung on him several years ago wasn’t as bad an idea as it once looked.
In the first seasons of his NASCAR career, Logano struggled to live up to a nickname that indicated he was the best thing since sliced bread. He did get a win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in his rookie season, but it came on a pit strategy ploy in a rain-shortened race and got him a win he didn’t really earn.
His career at Joe Gibbs Racing saw him grow into a confident, winning Nationwide Series driver, but he couldn’t duplicate that success on the Sprint Cup side.
But since moving to Team Penske last year and hooking up with Crew Chief Todd Gordon, the potential he showed as a teenager is coming to fruition.
His win this past Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway — one in which he raced past three former Cup champions in the closing nine laps — was his second of the season, and puts him in the position of making the Chase for the Sprint Cup no matter what happens the rest of the year.
He and Kevin Harvick are the only Cup drivers with multiple wins this season, as Logano also won at Texas, while Harvick has wins at Darlington and Phoenix.
“Having a couple wins this early in the season and in two completely different race tracks makes you very confident for the rest of the season,” Logano said. “At this point, we really have nothing to lose. It’s all about going for wins and having fun out there and making sure we’re ready for when the Chase starts.
“We’ve put ourselves in a good position this early in the season, and we’re going to have some fun.”
Logano said his success this season is in large part a product of the experience he and Gordon have had in the past two seasons — the knowledge they’ve gained from their good and bad runs together.
“I think you’ve got a notebook now, and I think Todd really understands what I need in a race car and what we’ve got to do and what we need to go fast,” he said. “Darlington was our worst race of the year — really, to be honest with you — and we were still a very good car. We led a lot of laps, but that was the one race track that we really didn’t have any notes to go off of, and as we come to these race tracks over and over again, we’ve got something to build off of.
“We know what we fought last time and we’re able to overcome it.”
Gordon said he and Logano are also able to benefit from the experiences of the other Team Penske entry of driver Brad Keselowski and his crew chief Paul Wolfe.
“We’re focused on what we need to be successful, and that’s I think the chemistry not only between Joey and myself, but between Joey and Brad and Paul and myself,” he said. “As we’ve gotten more successful, it’s allowed all of our organization to have more confidence in the notebooks of each other and how we build off of each other, and that’s the piece that I think allows us to continue to build and push each other.”
As Logano pointed out in his winner’s interview a few weeks ago at Texas, another factor in his success — one that distinguishes his career at Penske from his time at Gibbs — is his own maturity.
“Over the years, I’ve been able to kind of hone in on who I am as a driver, who I am as a person,” he said, explaining that he was only 18 when he went to Gibbs. “You’re not quite done growing up at that point, and I may not be now, but I feel like I’m getting closer.
“When I was able to go to Team Penske — kind of get that fresh start and be able to take everything you’ve learned there — you’re not taken as the 18-year-old kid anymore. I came over there, and I was 22 and you’re looked at a little bit more as a man, instead of an 18-year-old kid.
“I’ve been able to take advantage of that and kind of walk in the doors of Penske the first time and say, ‘Here’s who I want to be. Here’s what I want to do. And here’s how I feel we can win races and do it together.’”
It showed at Richmond, as he came from fourth place in the closing laps to pass Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth and Keselowski to get his fifth career victory and his third since joining Penske.