Appreciative Logano Reflects Ahead Of 600th Cup Start

MOORESVILLE, N.C. – Greatness and longevity are things that can’t be taught, and both are hard to sustain. In his 17th full-time NASCAR Cup Series season, Joey Logano has embodied those labels.

The latter is of particular importance this weekend, as Logano hits a major Cup Series milestone.

Logano will make his 600th Cup Series start Sunday at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway, becoming the 34th driver all-time to reach the milestone at stock car racing’s premier level.

Asked how he views the career threshold during a media call this week, the 35-year-old tackled the question from multiple angles.

“I took it in two different ways. At first glance, I said, ‘Well, it‘s just starts.’ But then when you start thinking about it, being around a sport at a top level for 16-plus years, and hitting 600 starts, it’s pretty incredible to have a career that long,” said Logano. “It’s something that I take some pride in and I’m proud to be able to hit this marker.

“I remember my 300th start … and I think it was [2023 NASCAR Hall of Famer] Matt Kenseth at the time and [2017 Cup Series champion] Martin Truex Jr. who weren’t too far from 600 starts and I thought, ‘Geez, that’s double the amount of races as me. That’s crazy,’” he added. “But here I am at the same point, so it went by pretty quickly.

“This sport has been awesome to me and my family and I’m proud to be a part of it.”

The Middletown, Conn., native is a three-time Cup Series champion, the 2015 Daytona 500 winner, and sits 23rd all-time on the Cup Series win list with 37 total.

Logano is one of four drivers still competing full time who have raced at NASCAR’s highest level since 2008. He was 18-year-old when he ran his first Cup race, and now he’s three wins away from tying 2017 NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin in career wins.

At his current pace, when he reaches that point, he will move into the top 20 all-time in the Cup Series.

It’s something that showcases how Logano has matured, having spent half his life in premier stock cars.

“I grew up in front of everybody. When you are 18 years old to 35 years old, some of the biggest changes in your life happen in that period of time,” said Logano. “Getting married and having kids are some of the biggest changes you can ever have in your life, and I did all of that in front of everyone.

“I’ve changed as a race car driver over time. When I was a young, I was a cocky kid coming in, then I got my share of humble pie and learned how to become a champion and learned a lot of lessons,” he continued.  “It’s kind of neat that race fans have been around that long and they see the evolution. It’s interesting to publicly grow up in front of people, but it’s part of what sports are, and it’s been a heck of a ride.”

Logano said he hasn’t put much thought into retirement. As long as he is still winning races, he feels he has no reason to step away. Once his ability to contend for wins goes away, that’s when he’ll consider hanging up his helmet.

“As long as I can win, that's the standard. I love racing, but I really love winning a lot more. If I can go race other things and win, I’ll go and do that, but my dream has always been to be a NASCAR driver and champion. If I can win and be a help to my team, then I want to stick around,” said Logano. “As soon as I feel like I’m a drag on the team and not bringing anything to the table anymore, both on and off the track, that’s when I need to get out of the way.”

Logano stated he doesn’t want to be a driver who stays a few years too late in his career. When his performance begins to drop off at a certain age, he doesn’t want to hold the organization back.

He values his 13-year relationship with Team Penske and would aid the transition process smoothly when his time to retire does come.

“I care about them a lot, so I want to help contribute. I don’t want to stick around and be one of those guys where people say, ‘Man, he went a few years too long.’ Right now, I still feel as fresh, driven and sharp as ever,” said Logano. “I still care and get emotional about things, that shows me personally I care a lot. With those factors still there, when the end is, I don't know yet.”

With a Hall of Fame résumé already, Logano said he has one thing left on his career to-do list – winning a Brickyard 400 trophy from iconic Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“That is the number one race on the list to win just because it’s Indy and it’s history. The dream of kissing the bricks is a real thing for me, I would love to be in that position,” said Logano. “We’ve been close many times. Obviously, Mr. Penske owns the track and being my boss adds more to it, but the energy was there before that. The track holds enough prestige that it doesn’t matter who you are, you want to win that race.

“You want to go in the history books as an Indianapolis winner in anything.”

He will have that shot during the 31st running of the Brickyard 400 on July 27.

But, before that, Logano will have the moment of starting his 600th Cup Series race at Dover. This season, he is 11th in the point standings and one point behind Chris Buescher for a spot in the top 10.

He has two top fives and five top 10s, though his most recent win was in April at Texas Motor Speedway. For his career at Dover, Logano has five top fives since 2013, but hasn’t won at the track in 28 starts.

In the Next Gen car his average finish is 25th, and he was 16th in the race last year, both marks Logano hopes to improve upon during a milestone weekend.

“There are obviously strategies we talked about going into the weekend, but after practice we’ll see what we’ve got. There’s none better than my crew chief Paul Wolfe at strategy and he’s got a great team behind him to where we can make good choices,” said Logano. “I put in my two cents where I think I can pull a strategy off or I can’t, but those are kind of the conversations that we have, and we try to make the decisions together.”

Coverage of the AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 from Dover begins Sunday, July 20 at 2 p.m. ET, live on TNT Sports, the Performance Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.