Fans’ devotion to NASCAR drivers often borders on fanaticism. They dissect every word from their favorite racers, dig up obscure stats, attend countless races throughout the year, and cheer them on at every turn. Some take it a step further, permanently etching their loyalty by tattooing the driver’s name or car number on their skin. While this might seem like the ultimate tribute, Joey Logano recently pointed out a few downsides.
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For example, fans with a bold No. 22 inked on their wrists or necks might face a dilemma if Logano ever changes teams and adopts a new car number. When asked about his wildest fan encounters on the Whiskey Riff Raff podcast, Logano brought up tattoos as a curious phenomenon.
He admitted that while he hasn’t seen anything extreme when it comes down to fans, he finds it fascinating that fans would make such a permanent choice. “I don’t really completely understand it, but not that I’m, like, judging anyone. I don’t like, do whatever you want. I don’t care,” Logano said.
“But I don’t know if I’d want someone’s name. Like… these people don’t know me. What if I did something wrong one day? And you got my name written on your forearm. What are you going to do?… You’ve got to do something about it,” he added.
Logano even joked about how changing car numbers could complicate things for fans, citing Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s shift from No. 8 when he was driving for his father’s Dale Earnhardt Inc. to driving No. 88 for Hendrick Motorsports.
In that case, fans only had to add another eight to fix their tattoos. But Logano questioned, “What if he went to like the #15 or something? It’s a pretty big commitment.”
Interestingly, Dale Jr. himself wasn’t fazed by the change. In a 2011 interview, he acknowledged that while it was great to be No. 8, switching to 88 quickly felt normal.
Hence, fans who were crazy enough about Dale Jr. to get his car number inked on themselves may have had to endure some extra pain getting it fixed after 2008. But it had little to no impact on the driver himself.
