Driver: No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Fusion
Birthday: May 24, 1990 (22)
Hometown: Middletown, CT
Residence: Huntersville, NC
Marital Status: Single
Joey Logano enters his first season with Penske Racing coming off a 2012 campaign that saw him produce career-best results in both the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series.
The 22-year-old driver combined for 10 victories on the year, as he earned his second-career Sprint Cup Series win at Pocono Raceway and won nine Nationwide Series races – third-most ever in a single season. After showing the ability to win on all levels of racing, Logano will bring stability and success to the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Fusion beginning in 2013.
Entering what he considered the biggest year of his racing career, Logano responded with a determination and focus that had him driving at the highest levels in both of the top two series in NASCAR in 2012. In his fourth full season as a Sprint Cup Series driver, Logano tied career bests with one race victory and two pole positions for Joe Gibbs Racing and established a new career high with 190 laps led which more than tripled his previous best. The Middletown, CT native also recorded two top-five and 12 top-10 finishes. In addition to his success in the Sprint Cup Series, Logano led all Nationwide Series drivers with nine wins, six poles and 1,065 laps led while competing in just 22 of 33 races.
Logano joins Penske Racing with a highly-decorated history in motorsports. His road to NASCAR began when he was just six years old and began competing in Quarter Midgets throughout the Northeast. He captured his first championship at the age of seven in the 1997 Eastern Grand National Championship in the Junior Stock Car Quarter Midget division. As he continued through the Quarter Midget ranks, he followed up his first title with Eastern Grand National Championships in 1998 and 1999.
Logano began racing Bandoleros in 1999 and quickly became the National Bandolero Bandits Champion. That same year he was also the youngest driver to compete in a Legends car when he made a start as a nine year-old racer. The following year he captured the Bandolero division championships at Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.
After winning the Bandolero championships, Logano moved on to Legends cars full time. He set a track record with 14-consecutive wins at Atlanta Motor Speedway at just 12 years old and won the Young Lions National Championship in 2002. Logano also won the Pro National Championship that year, making him the youngest Pro Division Champion in Legends history. Logano then transitioned into Late Models, racing with the Georgia Asphalt Series and Southern All-Star Series while also making headlines by competing in the American Speed Association (ASA) National Tour, one of the most prestigious short track series in existence. In 2004 he competed in the ASA Late Model Series, where he earned five top-five and eight top-10 finishes.
In 2005 Logano took the next major step in his path to NASCAR when he was signed as a development driver by Joe Gibbs Racing. As part of that development program, Logano made his debut just after his 15th birthday when he started competing in the USAR Hooter’s Pro Cup Series. He earned his first Pro Cup Series victory at Mansfield (Ohio) Motorsports Park in just his second start and tallied one win, six top-five and seven top-10 finishes in 14 starts that year. His incredible opening season caused NASCAR veteran Mark Martin to call Logano the “real deal” at just 15 years of age. Logano followed up his successful first season by winning two additional races in the 2007 Pro Cup Series season.
Logano continued his ascent as a NASCAR driver in 2007 when he made his debut in the NASCAR West Series and visited victory lane in his first NASCAR-sanctioned race at Phoenix International Raceway. He also won the NASCAR Camping World East Series season-opening race en route to the NASCAR East Series Championship and Rookie of the Year titles with five wins, two poles, 10 top-five and 10 top-10 finishes in just 14 starts. Logano is also a two-time winner of the NASCAR All-Star Showdown, formerly held every year at Irwindale (Cal.) Speedway.
While having to wait to advance up the NASCAR ladder until May of 2008 when he turned 18, Logano made a couple of starts in the ARCA Racing Series, winning the Series first race at Rockingham Speedway. Logano then made his long-anticipated NASCAR Nationwide Series debut just a few days after his 18th birthday at Dover International Speedway. He quickly found success when he secured his first pole in just his second-career start at Nashville Superspeedway in June and then became the youngest winner in Nationwide Series history when he won from the pole at Kentucky Speedway in his third start, just three weeks after his 18th birthday. He raced in a total of 19 Nationwide Series events that season and earned one win, three poles and 14 top-10 finishes.
Logano made his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September of 2008 and made additional Cup Series starts at Kansas Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway.
In his first full Sprint Cup season in 2009, Logano recorded his first career series victory when he took the checkered flag at Loudon, and he went on to secure three top-five and seven top-10 finishes. With his early success on the track, Logano earned the distinctions of being both the youngest Sprint Cup winner at 19 years-old and the youngest Cup Series Rookie of the Year in the 55-year history of the award.
Penske Racing announced in early September that Logano would join the organization in 2013 as the driver of the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Fusion in Sprint Cup Series competition. With two wins and five poles in Cup Series competition and 18 wins and 22 poles in Nationwide Series action, Logano will begin to build on those impressive career numbers with Penske Racing in 2013.