Joey Logano recently won the NASCAR Cup Series playoff race to book his place in the round of 12 this season. It was at the Atlanta Motor Speedway, a track that he shares a long history with, spanning 25 years. Back in 1999, the Team Penske star competed in the Thursday Thunder summer series in the Bandolero Bandits Division. Back when he was still a kid, Logano used to come to this track and sneak into the garages of iconic drivers like Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin.
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It took some time for his first Cup Series win at the track to come. The #12 driver made his full-time debut in the competition in 2009 but was able to win his first Atlanta race in the spring of 2023. Before all that, Logano raced in Thursday Thunder from 1999 to 2003, winning 20 races and two championships in 2001 and 2002. It was a special moment for him to win here on Sunday as those memories came back.
“There’s a lot of memories right here at this start-finish line for me racing Legends cars as a kid so this is a really cool feeling to be out here in a Cup car again. It’s always special but here, I lived right there (in the AMS condos) for about six years so it was a lot of time looking at this racetrack dreaming about going down into turn 1,” he said in a recent media interaction.
At one point, Logano was the ‘next generation.’ That was back when he used to sneak in to catch a glimpse of some NASCAR superstars. Today, he is the NASCAR superstar everyone wants to meet. The new generation of racers today look up to the two-time Cup Series champion and he is happy to help anyone who needs it.
“It’s kind of cool to see the next generation and now it’s like I’m that guy. It’s just weird to even think that way because I still think of me as that kid — I just think it’s cool to be driving out there. I don’t think that part of being a kid ever really gets out of you,” he added.
The win at Atlanta has made life a lot easier for the driver of the #22 car. He can now take it a bit easy at Watkins Glen and Bristol. The additional playoff points will help in the next round as well. After being eliminated in the round of 16 last year, getting through to the round of 12 was crucial, and got the job done on the first attempt.
