Joey Logano's full-season debut at Daytona didn't turn out the way he wanted it. In fact he crashed on lap 80 finishing dead last.
"It was tough at times believe me. You know the media wasn't saying the greatest things but if anything it's more motivating," he said.
At 19 years of age the critics said he was pushed too far too fast. He was placed in the No 20 Toyota to succeed Tony Stewart who left Joe Gibbs Racing to become co-owner of Stewart Haas Racing. The original plan, likely, was to keep Logano at the Nationwide level for at least one more year.
Others, like Mark Martin, never had any doubts about Logano's potential.
Five years ago Martin predicted that Logano, then 14 years old racing against his son Matt Martin, would become a future star in NASCAR's top series.
"At the time I thought that was awesome,” Logano added. “To be honest that's something that got me to this point if it wasn't for him saying stuff like that to get me a ride like this. It was a real big deal in my career."
The Connecticut native knuckled down, took his licks from the doubters and won his first Sprint Cup race at Loudon, New Hampshire in June. With only Scott Speed and Max Papis as rivals there was no surprise when he was selected as Rookie of the Year.
"Seat time made a big difference. I was getting a little self confidence out of Nationwide car which was helping me there and just kept pushing it and trying to learn these race cars as much as I can,” he said.
“By no means I'm not there yet but I feel like we made big steps. The second part is figure out how you want them to drive, what part of the corner you want to work on, you know, what do you need to make these things go fast," he said.
When told that he clinched the award Logano replied just as one would expect from someone his age "All right, cool. That's cool. That was one of our big goals this year. It's pretty neat to win Raybestos Rookie of the Year. I appreciate that."
photo:Philippe Champoux - Auto123.com
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"It was tough at times believe me. You know the media wasn't saying the greatest things but if anything it's more motivating," he said.
At 19 years of age the critics said he was pushed too far too fast. He was placed in the No 20 Toyota to succeed Tony Stewart who left Joe Gibbs Racing to become co-owner of Stewart Haas Racing. The original plan, likely, was to keep Logano at the Nationwide level for at least one more year.
Others, like Mark Martin, never had any doubts about Logano's potential.
Five years ago Martin predicted that Logano, then 14 years old racing against his son Matt Martin, would become a future star in NASCAR's top series.
"At the time I thought that was awesome,” Logano added. “To be honest that's something that got me to this point if it wasn't for him saying stuff like that to get me a ride like this. It was a real big deal in my career."
The Connecticut native knuckled down, took his licks from the doubters and won his first Sprint Cup race at Loudon, New Hampshire in June. With only Scott Speed and Max Papis as rivals there was no surprise when he was selected as Rookie of the Year.
"Seat time made a big difference. I was getting a little self confidence out of Nationwide car which was helping me there and just kept pushing it and trying to learn these race cars as much as I can,” he said.
“By no means I'm not there yet but I feel like we made big steps. The second part is figure out how you want them to drive, what part of the corner you want to work on, you know, what do you need to make these things go fast," he said.
When told that he clinched the award Logano replied just as one would expect from someone his age "All right, cool. That's cool. That was one of our big goals this year. It's pretty neat to win Raybestos Rookie of the Year. I appreciate that."
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photo:Philippe Champoux - Auto123.com