Joey Logano will make his first run at Pocono Raceway this weekend. The NASCAR Sprint Cup Raybestos Rookie of the Year candidate will also run in the the ARCA RE/MAX Series event. (Photo: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR)
No one ever said being a NASCAR Sprint Cup Raybestos Rookie of the Year candidate would be easy. And for Joey Logano, the 19-year-old from Connecticut, it hasn’t been an easy 2009. Far from it.
But it’s getting better, and that’s what really matters.
Logano, of course, came into the Cup Series with more pressure on him than any rookie since Jeff Gordon. For one thing, he was stepping into a primo ride, the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, joining a team that had won two championships with Tony Stewart in 2002 and 2005.
And then there was hype. With the nickname of “Sliced Bread,” as in, the best thing since sliced bread, Logano had an unusual amount of attention focused on him. When he had a terrible Daytona Speedweeks, where he hit everything but the lottery, there were even rumors that Logano would be replaced this season.
But the Gibbs team has been patient and Logano has begun to produce greatly improved results. In his first eight races, Logano finished in the top 20 only once, a 13th at Las Vegas. But his last five Sprint Cup races have all resulted in top-20 finishes, including ninth-place runs at Talladega, Darlington and Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Even Sunday’s 15th at Dover was satisfying for Logano.
“The last few weeks have been going so well for The Home Depot Team,” Logano said. “Dover was tough because it’s not like we started up front and ran there all day, we worked really hard as a team to fight for that 15th-place finish.”
