For the people who follow the Legends racing program at Atlanta Motor Speedway, it must be hard to imagine that one-time Alpharetta resident Joey Logano will be making his 100th Sprint Cup start at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Sunday’s AdvoCare 500.
A decade ago, Logano was one of the kid racers who ran the quarter-mile at AMS in the early stages of their careers, a group that includes Reed Sorenson and David Ragan. Logano still holds the AMS Bandolero record for consecutive wins with 14.
Three years ago, just after he reached NASCAR’s minimum age of 18, he made his Cup debut at New Hampshire, finishing 32nd. In the 99 races since, he has a win, at New Hampshire in 2009, along with three poles, 14 top-five and 29 top-10 finishes.
He has nine victories in the Nationwide Series, although he has never run a full season in that division.
Along the way he has set records for the youngest driver to win in the Nationwide and Cup series, the youngest driver to win a Cup pole and the youngest driver to win Cup rookie-of-the-year honors.
Logano said the years have seemed to slip by.
“It doesn’t really feel like it’s been that long,” he said during a recent interview session at Bristol Motor Speedway. “It’s gone by pretty quick.”
He also said he hasn’t achieved the results he expected. Others had high expectations, too, as his one-time moniker “Sliced Bread” would indicate.
“Winning one out of 100 is not where we wanted to be, so we need to win some more,” he said. “It’s a steep learning curve, but it’s like that for everyone.
“I’ve worked really hard, and I’m proud of what we’ve done so far. ... We’ve got a long way to go. We’re still working at it. We’ve come a long ways, and that means a lot.”
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