Written by:
Wendy Venturini
I’m sitting in the doctor’s office waiting to have uncertain sun spots removed, just one of the joys of working in the intense sun at the race track every week.
Kenny Wallace jokes about the rampant skin damage throughout the garage area, but I can’t seem to find the humor in this procedure. However, someone who doesn’t have to worry about the effects of the sun is the very young 19-year-old Joey Logano, who this week celebrated his first-ever NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win.
As I sat behind Logano on the plane ride home from Loudon Sunday night following his accomplishment, I laughed as I heard him say, “Whoa, I have like 40 text messages. I don’t even know 40 people.”
It’s refreshing to see a 19-year-old relish in a surprising victory. It’s also revitalizing to hear him chuckle and sport that ear-to-ear grin he always has. What teenager in his shoes wouldn’t have perma-grin right now? Finally, it’s a breath of fresh air to see the No. 20 team continue their 10-year streak to Victory Lane … but this time without the champagne because their driver isn’t of the legal drinking age.
The jokes have swirled … will Logano celebrate with cookies and milk? Will he treat the team to Chuck E. Cheese? The cracks are funny but really irrelevant because the youngster just went down in the history books as the youngest winner in NASCAR history. That is an amazing accomplishment.
Logano’s veteran crew chief, Greg Zipadelli, to whom much of the credit for Sunday’s win is due, has seen the ups and downs of the No. 20 team in his 10 years at Joe Gibbs Racing, especially when it comes to rain-shortened races.
In fact, it was in this exact race one year ago that Zipadelli and Tony Stewart felt they “gave away” the win by pitting right before the rain hit. After dominating the race and leading the most laps last year, Stewart ended up a disappointing 13th in the Home Depot car.
This time around, with a different driver at the wheel, Zipadelli took a chance on stretching their pit window, a gamble that paid off as Logano became the race leader when the caution came out for rain, and shortly thereafter, the race was called. Ironically, Logano was declared the race winner in just his 20th Cup career start.
“Not really the way you want to win, especially your first one,” he told me in a sit-down interview the next day that will air Sunday as part of the “Real Deal” on NASCAR RaceDay, “but a win is a win and I’ll gladly take it!”
At the season’s onset, critics were rough on the-then-18-year-old new kid in town, saying he was too young for Cup and was being rushed. It was then that I gladly shared with Logano one of my favorite quotes from Rick Warren: “No matter what you do in life, some people aren't going to like it. And the brighter the light, the more bugs it attracts.”
Since then, I’ve heard Logano use that same quote in interviews and I’ve had my own chuckle watching him handle the media with more maturity and suaveness than most adults will ever develop.
Even though the sun clearly would have damaged Joey’s run that day, the guy has talent, so cut him some slack. After all, what were you doing at 19? And next time you see Logano, congratulate him on his awesome feat. Most certainly, in his bright future, there will be plenty of sunny race days he will power his way to Victory Lane.
The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or Speed Channel
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