NASCAR might not feature many women behind the wheel, but two figurative ladies still take over the sport, Lady Luck and Dame Fortune. Across decades, drivers have clung to a toolbox of superstitions to coax that extra ounce of fortune on race day. Peanuts at the track remain taboo, a belief rooted in fatal crashes from the 1930s.
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Car No. 13 was long viewed as the black cat of NASCAR numbers, and countless other rituals, from avoiding green cars to quirky pre-race routines, have passed through the garage. But Joey Logano stands firmly on the opposite end of the spectrum.
During a recent appearance on Whiskey Riff, the three-time Cup Series champion made his stance clear when Shelby asked if he followed any racing superstitions. Logano answered without hesitation:
“None. I’m like an anti-superstitious person, and I will do the things that people say you shouldn’t do, cuz I just don’t agree with any of it, cuz I’m like, who made up this stuff? Well, I just want to prove to people how stupid it sounds… That’s just me.”
He even aimed some of the most common beliefs, calling them absurd. For Logano, ideas like mirrors bringing seven years of bad luck, the danger of walking under ladders, or opening an umbrella indoors hold no water.
He laughed off the notion of “lucky underwear,” admitting he found the concept downright gross. “I just don’t get it,” he said. “So I’ve never been that way, and I’m so much not that way that I’ll do all the things just to prove people that it’s stupid.”
Ironically, some of Logano’s career milestones could make even skeptics raise an eyebrow. His entry into the Round of 8 last year came only after Alex Bowman’s car was disqualified at the Charlotte Roval, a fate twist that ultimately led to his third championship.
Then there’s his strange trend dating back to 2014: every even year, Logano reaches the Championship 4, and every odd year, he falls short. For instance, in 2024, he not only made the Championship 4 but also captured the title.
A year earlier, in 2023, he finished a modest P12. In 2022, he won the championship; in 2021, he bowed out after the Round of 8. The pattern, while uncanny, hasn’t swayed him entirely.
Addressing the phenomenon after last year’s Phoenix finale, Logano admitted, “I don’t know, I’m starting to believe in this stuff. I’ve always been Mr. anti-luck, anti-superstitions. I always do the opposite of what people say you should do, and when people say ‘Good luck,’ I say ‘I don’t need it, there’s no such thing.’”
“And I don’t know, I don’t know what. I don’t believe it’s luck, I still don’t believe it’s luck, but it is kind of weird that it’s gone this way. I promise you, I’ll try hard next year too.”
So while Logano may tiptoe closer to believing in luck, one thing is certain: NASCAR’s reigning “Mr. Anti-Superstition” refuses to let rituals, omens, or folklore dictate the way he races.
