Every race fan knows that in Homestead a champion is crowned for the NASCAR Cup Series. This year and last year NASCAR has been sponsored by Monster Energy which means the Cup Series has been called the Monster Energy Cup Series (MENCS) for two years. It was a long fight for the 2018 champ, yes during yesterday’s race but also his career. Mark Martin called this driver the greatest thing since Sliced Bread before he’d even turned a lap in the K&N series. That driver is Joey Logano. Logano has been racing in the Cup Series since he was 18 years old. Joe Gibbs Racing picked him up in 2008, and Logano got his first two wins with them before moving to Team Penske in 2013.
Since the move to Penske, Logano has picked up nineteen Cup Series wins, and has a total of eighty-eight top 5’s and one-hundred-thirty-eight top 10’s. This was Logano’s third time being in the championship four. The first time in 2014 Logano finished in 4th, then in 2016 he finished in 2nd. He completely missed the playoffs in 2017 but this year he finally completed his life long dream- he became a champion. The winning move came with less than ten laps to go when Logano was able to clear Martin Truex Jr. and speed away. Logano managed to hold onto the lead long enough to win both the race and championship. When the race was over Logano did his signature "Logano Loop" burnout.
The new champion was immediately surrounded by his team and people he kept hugging as soon as he climbed out of the car. Teammate and 2012 champ Brad Keselowski was one of them.
Not unlike many of Logano's fans, the driver himself was in tears during the beginning of his interview.
During Logano's interview you could see the moment it all began to set in because he got very excited and playfully shoved Marty Snider who was interviewing him.
It took the NBC group a bit of time to wrestle Logano on stage but he did eventually arrive. There he was awarded the trophy and was able to celebrate with his team and family. His parents, sister Danielle, wife Brittany, and ten month old son Hudson were all there to celebrate. As soon as Brittany was on stage she set Hudson in the trophy, and as it would turn out the young Logano would end up in the cup several more times that night.
Logano is a very family oriented person, and mentioned multiple times during interviews that night just how special it was to him to have his family there with him to celebrate, but in case you're still wary- this picture speaks volumes.
As Logano celebrated he took extra care to make sure it was known that this was not his championship but his entire team's championship. He always said 'we' or 'us' unless talking about something that went down behind the wheel. Logano also made sure to thank the fans for their continuous support as well.
Don't be fooled, when a driver wins the championship they don't get just the trophy and champion honors, they also get a really rad boat. Rutledge Wood was talking about the boat and said that he looked over at one point during the commercial break and Logano was climbing over the side to sit in it. Wood also commented about the new entourage following Logano around the track. He then took the interview a step farther to address how inspiring this all was.
A few days prior to the championship finale Logano was raising money for his charity the Joey Logano Foundation who's mission is to give second chances to those in need. Logano was able to raise 170,000 dollars last week. He then went on to win the Comcast Community Award for his efforts.
During the interview Logano talked about how anyone can donate money, but not everyone can donate time. Before the NBC post coverage ended the always humble Logano was sure to mention how while this championship is huge and amazing, but in the grand scheme of things there are more important things than him winning a championship.
Another MENCS season is in the books, and the Daytona Clash is only eighty-four days away and counting!
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AuthorI'm a junior in high school but that doesn't stop me from keeping up with and bringing you the latest from NASCAR! Archives
February 2019
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