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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
ROBERTS: The American Dream
It was hard to gauge what was bigger - the smile on Joey Logano’s face or the line formed at the store...
John Roberts  |  Posted September 21, 2009   Charlotte, NC
John Roberts is the host of NASCAR RaceDay, NASCAR Victory Lane and NASCAR Smarts on SPEED. (Photo: SPEED)
It was 7 a.m. and raining in Middletown, Connecticut. Yet there was a small group of people gathered outside the local Home Depot, all to see a kid.

They wanted to make sure they were first in line when their hometown boy, Joey Logano, arrived to sign autographs, even though he was not scheduled until 5 p.m. That didn’t matter. It was “Joey Logano Day” in his hometown.

When the youngest winner in the history of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racing showed up, he was informed once again that the mayor would hand him the key to the city.

Logono asked, “What does the key open?”

And because of his 19-year-old naiveté, you just may have believed his question was a serious one.

It was hard to gauge what was bigger - the smile on Logano’s face or the line formed at the store. The original plan was to give out 700 bracelets that allowed fans to obtain an autograph, but organizers had to dole out 50 more.

When asked if it would be okay to expand the session because of the sheer number of fans that turned out, Logano responded with an even bigger smile and said, “I got no place else I’d rather be.”

As fans, friends, and family members crowded around, Logano handled the whole situation like a veteran and showed us all a refreshing side of a Sprint Cup driver that is rare these days. All you have to do is talk to Logano and you get a sense that he truly appreciates where he is in life.

When Tony Stewart announced he was vacating the seat of the famous No. 20 Home Depot Toyota, most people said Logano was not ready to handle the rigors of being a Cup superstar. He responded by winning a race just a little more than a three-hour drive from his hometown, just a little less than halfway through his first season.

Fan after fan came up to Logano and at least half of them said, “Remember me?”

If he remembered them, he said so, and apologized if he did not. But the trademark smile never left his face. Many fans brought shirts from his father’s trucking company and asked him to sign them, which was a very cool twist since his mother and father were just a couple feet away looking on.

A reporter from the local newspaper asked if he ever wished for a simpler life. Without batting an eye, Logano said this was the plan from the start - to be a Sprint Cup driver - and he wouldn’t have it any other way. It probably happened a little faster than all parties involved expected. But when your former neighbors, teachers and coaches wait in line for hours to say “We’re proud of you,” the plan must have worked out pretty well.

Many Cup drivers participate in many autograph signings each season. But there was something special about this one … the hometown boy who made it to the “big time” and came home to a hero’s welcome.
And he’s handling the whole thing like a champ. When most of us look back to age 19, we probably didn’t even know what we wanted to be when we grew up. Joey Logano has grown up in a hurry in front of us. He has a lot of racing ahead of him and if he’s a big part of the future of the sport, we can rest assured the future looks pretty bright.

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or Speed Channel

John Roberts is the host of NASCAR RaceDay, NASCAR Victory Lane and Tradin’ Paint on SPEED. He also hosts and reports from the garage on NASCAR Live and Go or Go Home and has been part of the FOX family since 2001. Roberts graduated from James Madison University and jokingly still considers himself a prospect for a top-rated college basketball team, namely the University of North Carolina Tar Heels.
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