“I Wouldn’t Be Sitting Here Today”- Joey Logano Namedrops NASCAR Icon Who Helped Beat Bitter Rival Kyle Busch

Joey Logano is one of the modern greats of NASCAR. The defending Cup Series champion has skillfully carved out a place for himself in the sport’s history. However, as the proverb goes, ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day,’ and neither was Logano’s successful career.

The two-time Cup Series champion has been a racing prodigy since his days of puberty. Climbing up the ladder of talent, Logano was already deemed the next superstar in NASCAR by many at a young age. But like every successful driver, he had a guiding light in front of him, and in a recent interview with NASCAR, he revealed who it is.

Joey Logano credits the NASCAR legend for his rise to prominence

At the age of 19, Joey Logano made his mark in the history of the Cup Series. 19 is a tender age for drivers in NASCAR, a sport where experience is paramount. But Logano never had any problem adjusting to the ever-increasing level of racing in the country. The first to notice his potential was legendary driver Mark Martin.

Speaking about Martin’s influence on his journey, Logano said, “It’s so interesting how that all played out with Mark and how much he helped me in my career. I wouldn’t be sitting here today if it wasn’t for Mark Martin.“

Being a Cup Series race winner at 19 is a huge deal. Even more so when the record is held by someone like Kyle Busch, who has kept breaking records year after year. Emerging victorious at Lenox Industrial Tools 301 in New Hampshire, the 33-year-old announced his arrival on the big stage by becoming the youngest driver to win a Cup race.

“I saw Joey race legend cars which are the hardest things in the world to drive.”

“I think at 10 years old racing in the pro division. I’m talking about the grown-ups. I saw him whip them and I was like so this little kid get out of the car and I’m like he’s gonna be a NASCAR champion. He’s going to be a Cup champion. I knew it from the time he was 10 years old.” stated Mark, singing praises about Logano’s caliber as a driver.

Martin, who is considered by many to be the best driver to have never won a championship, realized his dream through Logano. Being under the tutelage of Martin helped Logano improve as a driver, and as the interview continued, the reigning champion disclosed more about their relationship.

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Logano recollects his days of racing against Mark Martin

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Joey Logano has been a mainstay for a top-tier team like Team Penske for some time now. A strong contender for the championship every year, he has not stopped improving to this date. Continuously exploring solutions and modifications that could get him the better of on-track rivals, he is certainly one of the best NASCAR has to offer. The start of this special journey happened when Mark Martin bonded with him.

Explaining his dynamic with Mark, Logano reminisced, “Mark ended up buying our elite model for his son Matt, and so we kind of built a relationship a little bit.”

“We tried to put a deal together with Roush and we just couldn’t make it work. But in the meantime, while we’re trying to make it work, they gave us one of their older Cup cars that was retired and said, he’ll just go play with it. We go to local short tracks that were nearest and then sometimes they go test at Lakeland.”

Being a youngster among adult drivers who have previous experience in the best tournament of stock car racing is without a doubt a mountainous task. Joey claims that, although it was a new experience, Martin was the driver he wanted to keep at bay.

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“We ran two days of testing.” continued Logano. “He had his full Cup team like their preseason test. I think I was 14, running this Cup car out there and I couldn’t go as fast as Mark and I was so frustrated and I remember just like so clearly. He came up behind me and I’m 14 so all I can do even though it’s a test, I’m like I gotta keep Mark behind me. He came and just punted me out of the way. Later on, we figured out we had a different set of tires than what they had. I felt way better about it for two days.”

Mark Martin might just have been the potter to sculpt the magical career of a Cup Series champion and a modern legend in Joey Logano.