FANTASY NASCAR Racin

was nicknamed "sliced bread" (as in the greatest thing since...) by fellow racer Randy LaJoie, is an American stock car auto racing race car driver who currently drives the #20 Home Depot Toyota Camry in the Sprint Cup Series. He began his racing career in 1996 as a 6-year-old quarter midget racer living in Connecticut. At age 10 he went on to racing Legend cars, where he set a 14-consecutive winning streak track record at the Atlanta Motor Speedway, along with a Young Lions National Championship. As he aged, he moved up the ranks racing in Late Models, the Hooters series, and FASCAR Pro Trucks. He also ran the ARCA series, and won the Carolina 500 at Rockingham Speedway in 2008. Logano made his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut at the Dover International Speedway in the 2008 Heluva Good! 200. Logano became the youngest winner in Nationwide history by winning his first major NASCAR series race at the 2008 Meijer 300 in only his third start; driving the #20 GameStop Toyota. The

previous holder of the achievement was Casey Atwood. On August 25, 2008, Logano replaced Tony Stewart who left JGR to drive for his own team, Stewart-Haas Racing. His official debut was in New Hampshire on September 14 and he drove the Joe Gibbs owned #96 Home Depot car. By starting that race, he became the first NASCAR driver to run a cup race that was born in the 90s. In 2009, Logano finished 4th in his duel, and would become the youngest driver to ever start in the Daytona 500, however, he would crash midway through the race. On June 28, 2009, Logano won the rain-shortened Lenox Tools 301 at Loudon, New Hampshire, beating 4-time cup champion Jeff Gordon and former Home Depot #20 driver Tony Stewart, becoming the youngest winner ever in NASCAR's top racing

series at the age of only nineteen years, one month and four days old. Logano won his second race in 2012 at Pocono driving for Joe Gibbs. In 2013 Logano left Joe Gibbs racing, and was picked up by Penske Racing to wheel the #22 Pennzoil car. He picked up his third win at Michigan; made the Chase for the first time, and finished 8th in points. The match between Penske and Logano proved to bear fruit. Logano won five times in 2014 and a fourth place finish in the points. 2015 kicked off the season with a win in the Daytona 500; and later in the season he won three races in a row (Charlotte, Kansas, and Talladega). The win at Kansas came at the expense of Matt Kenseth. Kenseth was leading late in the race and Logano spun him out. A win would of assured Kenseth advancing to the next round of Chase eliminations.

Kenseth failed to advance after Logano spun him out; and at Martinsville, Kenseth exacted his revenge. Logano had led a majority of the race and looked to be the car to beat. Meanwhile, Kenseth and Brad Keselowski had wrecked; and Kenseth had come out of the garage damaged and off the pace, many laps behind. When Logano went to lap Kenseth; Kenseth got into Logano hard putting him into the outside wall and destroying Logano's car. Logano wasn't able to recover to make the final race of the Chase and run for the Championship. He finished sixth in the points that season. In 2016 Logano won three times and made it to Homestead with a chance to win the Championship. He ran well; but a late race gamble by Jimmie Johnson put him into the lead late and gave him the win and the Championship. 2017 proved to be a serious

disappointment. After starting off the season with a sixth place finish at Daytona. He followed that up with consecutive finishes of sixth, fourth, 31st, fifth, fourth, third, fifth and capped it off with a win the next race at Richmond. Normally it would have qualified him for the Chase, but he failed post race tech and the win was ruled "encumbered"; meaning he would have to win again or get in on points to make the Chase. After that mis-step the team went in a downward spiral. The next five races he finished no better than 21st; and only had three finishes better than 12th in the next 16 races after the win. The final race before the Chase, Logano had a good run and came up just short of the win; finishing second and missing the Chase. He did manage to put up five Top 10 finishes in the seasons final ten events. Logano spent most of 2018 running towards the front. And thanks to the dominance

of "the big three" (Martin Truex, Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick); together they claimed 20 wins. Logano kicked off the season with a fourth at Daytona; and followed that with finishes of sixth and seventh. He had a 19th place result; but for the next six events he would have all of his finishes inside the Top 10; including a win at Talladega. In the Chase Logano struggled to post great finishes; but accumulated enough points to advance to round two. That round he had finishes of third, fifth and eighth and once again advanced. The first race of round three was at Martinsville and on the final turn he 'moved' Martin Truex to steal the win and be locked into the Championship race at Homestead. In the season's final race, Logano didn't

have a strong car and only was able to be competitive on short runs. As luck would have it the final yellow waved just 20 laps from the end. When the green waved with just 15 laps from the end Logano was loaded for bear. His short run car was just the ticket as he came up through the field and passed Martin Truex for the lead with 11 laps to go. He was able to hold on and beat Truex by 1 1/2 seconds to get his first career Cup Championship. Logano also drove in five Xfinity Series races and was able to claim the checkered flag on two occasions. Logano started off the season in defense of his 2018 Cup Title. He once again had a fourth place finish in the Daytona 500. He had a poor run at Atlanta; but rebounded the next race at Las Vegas and grabbed his

first win of the season; while at the same time locking himself into the Chase. The next twelve races he reeled off nine Top 10 finishes that included six Top 5's and a win. Things turned stagnant until the Chase with many finishes in the 'teens'. With his two wins, Logano made his way into the playoffs. At the Charlotte Roval, he overcame a collision with a tire barrier to finish 10th and advance to the Round of 12. At Dover, Logano was forced to head to the garage before the opening laps to have a busted rear axle fixed. He returned to the race 24 laps down and finished 34th. Still, he advanced to the third round and in spite of posting finishes of eighth; fourth and ninth; he was eliminated when Denny Hamlin won at Phoenix to knock Logano out of the Championship race. Logano went on to finish fifth at Homestead and ended the season fifth in the

points. Logano returned to drive for Penske in 2020 and started the season on fire. He won the second and fourth race of the season; then the Covid pandemic struck, and NASCAR was shut down for two months. When racing resumed, he ran well; but never had s finish better than third the rest of the regular season. He pointed his way through the first two rounds of the Chase and won the first race in the third round advancing him into the Championship race at Phoenix. There he had a good car on short runs; but the race had a long run to the finish and

Chase Elliott had a good long run car; winning the race and the Championship. Logano finished third behind his Penske teammate Brad Keselowski. For 2021 Logano will be back in the #22 wheeling the Shell sponsored Ford for Roger Penske. Leading going into the final turn of the Daytona 500; Logano and Keselowski got together and crashed and Logano finished 12th. The season was a struggle from there. The only win Logano had was at the dirt track race at Bristol. Many of the top contenders got taken out and he was one of the survivors. The Penske Team was somewhat like Stewart-Haas. They had a big downturn from the previous year, and wins were hard to come by. He put together consistent runs; but most times he wasn’t at the front competing for the win. In the Chase, Logano managed to run well enough to make it into Round three; but missed out on being in the hunt for the Championship. He ended up eighth in that season’s

points. For the year he posted one win; 10 Top 5’s and 19 Top 10’s. Come 2022, Logano will be the elder statemen at Penske Racing as Keselowski was moving on to a different team. Young Ryan Blaney would also remain; while Rookie Austin Cindric would fill Keselowski’s seat. Logano began the 2022 season by winning the 2022 Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum at Los Angeles. He kicked off the regular season by finishing 21st in the Daytona 500. He rebounded for a fifth place finish at Fontana. A 14th place run at Las Vegas was followed by two top ten results. He scored his first win of the season at Darlington by bumping William Byron to the wall with two laps to go, infuriating both Byron and the crowd. Three races later he was back in victory lane again; this time at Gateway. He had a series of poor finishes over the next six races with only one race better than 17th. The next six races he finished no worse than 12th, with three top 5's. He started off his run for the Championship with a fourth place finish at Darlington. Although he finished 17th and 27th the

next two races, he advanced to the round of twelve. He was second at Texas; but was 27th and 18th at the Roval; once again slipping by to make the next round. He won at Las Vegas and locked himself into the Championship four at Phoenix. His team had two extra weeks to put into readying a car for Phoenix now that he was locked in; and everyone else was still trying to make it to the championship race. When the cars unloaded at Phoenix; the #22 team was very secretive and played things close to the vest. Little was said about the car; how it ran; or what they thought their strategy would be. When the green flag flew it was obvious what their strategy was: just drive away from the rest of the pack. They had come loaded for bear, and had a car that was very fast. He won the pole and led the first 87 laps. He lost the lead for just three laps on a shuffling of pit stops; and once back at the front led the next 68 laps. Ryan Blaney seemed to show the most ability to keep pace with Logano; but he had previously been eliminated from the play-offs. Ross Chastain; Chase Elliott and Christopher Bell were Logano's main competitors for the Championship. Chase Briscoe got the lead by altering his pit

strategy from the leaders. He managed to hang onto the lead on old tires for just a couple laps before Logano motored by with 30 laps to go and drove off to take the win and claim the championship. After winning the Cup championship, Logano had a miserable year. He did win, and make the playoffs, but his results were not near what was expected for the reigning Cup champ. The season go off to a good start as he finished second in the Daytona 500; and added a tenth the next week at Fontana. He was involved in a crash at Las Vegas and fell out; but bounced back and finished eleventh at Phoenix. He ran a great race at Atlanta

leading 140 laps of 260 laps. It wasn’t an “easy” win however; as Logano passed Brad Keselowski on the final lap to grab the victory. Over the next 20 races; it seemed every good finish was off-set by a bad one. He had six Top 5 results; but also had four finishes worse than 30th. He had ten Top 10 finished; but also had nine of 18th or worse. His win got him into the Chase; but he crashed and finished 34th at Bristol which eliminated him from the playoffs. He went on to finish 12th in the season points. For the season he had the lone win, eleven Top 5 and 17 Top 10 finishes. As 2024 rolled around, Logano's season got off to a rough start as he was involved in a crash late in

the Daytona 500 after leading 45 laps; but would end up 32nd. Atlanta wasn't much better as he was involved in an accident at the end of stage two that damaged his car. He was able to continue, but was off the pace and finished eight laps down in 28th. He ran ok at Las Vegas posting a ninth place finish; but once again, was involved in a crash when the Cup cars went to Phoenix, and he finished 34th. He finally had a good run at Richmond, but was no match for Denny Hamlin at the end, and finished second behind him. Issues continued for Logano as over the span of the next seven races, as he was only able to post one top ten finish. The NASCAR Series went to North Wilkesboro to

hold the All Star race again. Logano had a phenomenal day as he flat wore the field out. In the 200 lap event, the only lap he didn't lead, was a lap under yellow at the half way point. Hamlin tried his best to keep pace; but Logano went on to win by 4/10 of a second. Logano then had a few good runs sprinkled in mid-season, as he finished fifth at St Louis, and sixth and Iowa, before he broke through and won at Nashville. Denny Hamlin was leading with ten laps to go when the yellow came out. It was a split decision on if to pit or not, and Hamlin ducked into the pits. Logano chose to roll the dice and stay out. He led

the final nine laps, and it was the only laps he led, as he beat Zane Smith. Logano only posted four top five finishes during the 26 race regular season. When the play-offs started in Atlanta, Logano's team managed to use some strategy to get Logano up front on a late restart, and he pulled off the win to advance to the next round. In the Round of 12 Logano looked like he would be eliminated as he finished 14th at Kansas, and crashed at Talladega to finish 33rd. He needed a great run at the Roval to advance to the Round of 8. He ran well; but Alex Bowman ran better and knocked Logano out of the play-offs. In post race tech, it was discovered Bowman was too light and was disqualified. This moved Logano into the play-offs. The first race of the semi-final round Logano did the same

thing he did in 2022. The team put together a good run to open the round, used some strategy and took the lead for the first time with 6 laps to go, then won the race. This gave the team two weeks to concentrate solely on building a race car that could win the championship. The Team Penske guys worked on that car and had it ready to go since the final two races of the round meant nothing to them. When the car unloaded it was fast. They were ninth fastest in practice, and qualified second. Logano led 54 laps early before Christopher Bell took control leading 143 in the middle. But Bell was not in the hunt to win the championship. Logano and teammate Ryan Blaney were

the best cars the last part of the race. Logano held Blaney at bay and led the final 53 laps to win the 2024 Championship. He also made three starts in the Xfinity Series. He ran on the streets of Chicago, one of the many drivers driving as a fill in role in the #15 car, after Hailie Deegan who had been released from her contract early in the season. He had a good run finishing eighth, and also ran Watkins Glen where he had a ninth place finish. His other start was at Darlington where he fell out with motor problems. As of the end of the 2024 season, Logano has made 579 Cup starts with 36 wins; including wins in the Daytona 500 (2015); and was the Cup Champion in 2018, 2022, and 2024. He has compiled 167 Top 5 and 287 Top 10 finishes. He has made 179 Xfinity starts and has 30 wins. He also has nine starts in the Truck series and has won twice. For 2024 Logano ran 9435 of a possible 9744 laps (96.8%); but only led 414 laps. This made three years in a row that Team Penske had won the Cup Championship. He will be back driving the #22 for Roger Penske in 2025 trying to defend his championship. Some info from Wikipedia

Fantasy NASCAR Racing

JOSEPH THOMAS "JOEY" LOGANO - 05/24/1990