Joey Logano’s celebration of his third NASCAR Cup championship at the White House was downplayed by an unusual backdrop: President Donald Trump’s tariff pronouncement that occurred earlier in the day.
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Logano and his Team Penske crew visited the White House to be honored by Trump for winning last season’s Cup championship.
It was the second time Logano and his team were honored. They also were invited in 2019 (for winning the 2018 championship), but weren’t invited by then-President Biden for whatever reason in 2023 (for winning the 2022 title).
“It’s such a surreal experience,” Logano recalled on a recent edition of the Whiskey Riff podcast. “You’re sitting there and you’re like, ‘Okay I’m gonna meet the President, I’m walking in the Oval Office, like this is crazy, like this is the place, right?’
“Trump was super nice. He talked to us for a long time and had plenty of jokes. The guy’s funny, I’ve got to give it to him. He’s got a lot of jokes.”
Trump encouraged Logano and all the team members — as well as team owner Roger Penske — to take a bunch of “Trump merch” that was in a closet outside the Oval Office.
“Grab whatever you want,” Trump told Logano, who dutifully listened to the Commander In Chief and selected a pair of Trump endorsed shoes. Logano then went out to the South Portico of the White House where his car, Josef Newgarden’s Indy 500 winning car and the Team Penske IMSA champion Porsche were parked.
Like flipping a switch. From talking NASCAR to tariffs
Trump proceeded to honor all those in attendance, but there was a strange caveat: the whole celebration was overwhelmed because that was also the day Trump announced sweeping global tariffs.
And obviously, the media in attendance was more interested in the tariff situation than Trump honoring Logano and his team.
“The (stock) market was just going crazy and so the media availability went from talking about race cars and NASCAR and racing to just tariffs; We’re all standing there in the background for like 30 minutes. It was an incredible visual.
“It was amazing how quickly he turns the switch on and off because he went from a relaxed environment talking to us … about racing and then he flips it on he’s like, ‘Oh it’s business right?'”
“And he’s talking about what’s going on with the country so it was a neat experience, a really cool picture to have your race car in front of the White House like that’s one of the coolest things that you can see,” Logano recalled from his experience.
