Joey Logano - The Return of 'Sliced Bread'
HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. (July 15, 2008) – In July 1928, Iowa inventor Otto Rohwedder made front-page news when he convinced the Chillicothe Baking Company in Missouri to start selling sliced bread using his new invention called the Rohwedder Bread Slicer. The saying, “The best thing since sliced bread,” quickly followed and has been an expression used by advertisers for decades.
Some 80 years later, “Sliced Bread” still happens to be grabbing plenty of headlines. This time, though, it has nothing to do with flour and yeast products, but rather the nickname given to 18-year-old NASCAR Nationwide Series rookie phenom Joey Logano.
Logano, driver of the No. 20 GameStop Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR), hopes to continue making front-page news as he prepares to return from a three-race hiatus by competing in the Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 Saturday night at Gateway International Raceway in Madison, Ill.
In just four Nationwide Series starts thus far, Logano has already racked up two poles, two top-five and three top-10 finishes, and he became the youngest winner in series history when he captured his first win June 14 at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta exactly three weeks after his 18th birthday. With the win, Logano bested previous record-holder Casey Atwood, who drove to his first Nationwide Series victory at The Milwaukee Mile in 1999 at the age of 18 years, 10 months and nine days.
While Logano has already broken one significant record this season, the native of Middletown, Conn., will hope to leave his mark by helping his JGR team set two more records this weekend. With teammate Kyle Busch capturing JGR’s 13th Nationwide Series win last weekend at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill., JGR now sits deadlocked with Richard Childress Racing (RCR) for most wins in a season by a single organization. Just last season, RCR’s Kevin Harvick (six wins), Jeff Burton (five wins) and Clint Bowyer (two wins) totaled 13 victories in the Nos. 21, 29 and 2 Nationwide Series entries.
RCR’s record-setting 13th win came in the season’s 35th and final race at Homestead (Fla.) Miami Speedway with Burton in the No. 29. JGR’s record-tying win came in just the 20th race of this year’s 35-race schedule.
In addition to tying the organization record, JGR’s No. 20 GameStop team, led by crew chief Dave Rogers, has scored nine Nationwide Series victories this season – five by Tony Stewart, two by Denny Hamlin and one each by Busch and Logano. A 10th win by the No. 20 team Saturday night would equal a series-record first set 25 years ago for wins by a single car number. Sam Ard drove the No. 00 Oldsmobile for team owner Howard Thomas to 10 wins in 1983. In 2006, Kevin Harvick had nine wins and Jeff Burton one win in RCR’s No. 21 Chevrolet to tie the mark. Harvick scored RCR’s record-tying 10th win in that season’s 33rd of 35 Nationwide Series races at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. Ard scored his original record-setting 10th victory in the 35th and final event of 1983 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.
With 15 more chances to get the job done this season, starting Saturday night at a track that sits within a few hours’ drive southeast of the real birthplace of sliced bread, Logano and the GameStop team look to bring home another slice of history.
Joey Logano – Driver, No. 20 GameStop NASCAR Nationwide Series Toyota Camry at Gateway International Raceway
You’ve taken the last three Nationwide Series races off. How much are you looking forward to getting back behind the wheel of the No. 20 GameStop Toyota at Gateway this weekend?
“It’s been hard over the last few weeks since I’m eligible to run, but I just couldn’t because the schedule was set up at the beginning of the season. It definitely wasn’t easy, but I know I will be racing my whole career. I even tried to look at it as a bit of a vacation since I’m hoping I will be able to race every week for a long time. I definitely had a different attitude going to the shop at the start of the week since I’m pretty excited to get back racing the GameStop Toyota and back with all the guys on the 20 team. I get to test at New Smyrna (Fla.) in a (Sprint) Cup car Tuesday so it’ll feel good to get back in a race car Tuesday and then race at Gateway this weekend.”
How did you get the nickname “Sliced Bread”?
“It actually came from Randy LaJoie. I came walking in his shop one day and he said ‘hey, Sliced Bread.’ I asked him what that meant, and he said, ‘You’re the best thing since sliced bread.’ I said back to him, ‘Whatever.’ From there, we kind of joked about it forever and even made up a cartoon logo and it stuck. It’s really funny. All my friends have nicknames, like Brandon McReynolds is called ‘The Franchise,’ and Cory LaJoie is called ‘Super Shoe.’ It started out as a funny nickname and somehow it stuck.”
You’ve never seen the track at Gateway. What have you done to prepare yourself to run there is weekend?
“Thanks to GameStop, I’ve been playing video games the last couple of days just to see what the track layout is like. Milwaukee is ridiculously flat, so I don’t think there are too many similarities even though we are bringing our Milwaukee car there. I’ve been told that Gateway has just about the same amount of banking as Kentucky, but it’s obviously shaped differently and races differently. From what I’ve been told, there are two completely different ends to the race track. I’m looking forward to the challenge of a new track, though.”
Gateway is the first race track that you haven’t at least tested on. How important is it to sit down with your crew chief, Dave Rogers, and learn from what he’s experienced there with other drivers?
“I usually pick Dave’s brain as much as I can before we even get to the race track. We try to get a game plan together before practice even starts and know if we want to be loose or tight, or whatever we want to do, in practice. As far as getting used to the track, it’s pretty much up to me since I can play the video games and talk to Dave. But, for the most part, it’s all about going out there and figuring it out just like any other race track.”
The trend over the last few years has seen drivers getting younger and younger. You’ve been one of those young guys from the time you started racing up until now. How have you handled that?
“A lot of the guys start so young, now. I started when I was five or six years old. Back then, people didn’t start racing until they were 16. I’m 18 and I’ve been racing for 12 years, now. I feel that’s where it’s different, but if you look at all sports, they’re getting younger and younger. I don’t want to say that it probably wouldn’t hurt, but I feel I’m ready and I think when the team feels you’re ready, they’re not going to put you out there not ready because that’s not helping me and it’s not helping the team, and it’s just not the right thing to do. When Joe Gibbs Racing says I’m ready, that’s when I’m going to go.”
There’s been a lot of attention and pressure put on you in just a short time this year. Have those expectations almost become normal for you?
“I think I’d feel weird without the pressure because I’ve kind of gotten used to it. And if I didn’t have the pressure, I’d think something would be wrong. I’m 100 percent cool with it. I go out there expecting to win. I go out there expecting my team to expect to win. And that’s what we’re doing. I’m just one of those over-competitive freaks, I guess. I think that’s what everyone is here for and that is what I want my team to be here for.”
