As a three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and former Daytona 500 winner, Joey Logano has accomplished more in NASCAR than most drivers could ever dream of.
However, there are a few races he’s never won and several places where he’s never been to Victory Lane at all.
That being the case, does Logano have one missing item from his resume that he covets above all others?
Joey Logano, Without Hesitation, Reveals His Top To-Do
Surprising in light of all his achievements, Joey Logano has failed to win three of the four races that most NASCAR authorities consider to be the sport’s “crown jewels.”
While the Team Penske driver captured the Daytona 500 back in 2015, he has come up empty in the Coca-Cola 600, the Brickyard 400 and the Southern 500.
Logano would certainly love to possess a trophy from each of these major events, but getting one for winning the Brickyard 400 at fabled Indianapolis Motor Speedway ranks as his top priority.
“That’s the one that definitely stands out to me,” said Logano, a 37-time Cup Series race winner. “That is the number one race on the list to want to win, just because it’s Indy. The history. How iconic that speedway is.”
Home to the Indianapolis 500, an IndyCar race that is the world’s premier motorsports event, Indianapolis Motor Speedway is steeped in tradition like no other racetrack.
Consider, for example, that the first Indy 500 took place in 1911. And the race has been on every IndyCar schedule since, with the only exceptions being 1917, 1918 and 1942-1945.
The inaugural 24 Hours of Le Mans, by way of comparison, didn’t happen until 1923. Meanwhile, Formula One’s most prestigious race, the Monaco Grand Prix, wasn’t a thing until 1929. The first Daytona 500 came about 30 years later — in 1959.
So, as far as Logano is concerned, a win at Indianapolis — the world’s largest spectator sporting facility — is the missing feather in his cap.
“That racetrack holds enough prestige that it doesn’t matter who you are and who you drive for, you want to win that race,” Logano said. “You want to go in the history books as an Indianapolis winner in anything. So, that one would be special.”
How Close Has Reigning Cup Series Champ Come To Winning At Indy?
Although Joey Logano is an ugly 0-for-13 at Indianapolis, it’s not like he’s typically out to lunch when NASCAR visits the storied 2.5-mile speedway. Far from it, in fact.
The reigning Cup Series champ actually owns a pair of second-place finishes at The Brickyard, with the first coming in 2015 and the most recent coming in 2019. Of course, the Cup Series didn’t even compete on the Indy oval from 2021 to 2023, instead opting to run on the speedway’s infield road course.
All told, Logano has finished in the top 10 in eight of his 13 starts on the oval track. But he’s yet to kiss Indy’s legendary Yard of Bricks — a three-foot-wide slab of bricks at the start/finish line.
Since 1996, the year of NASCAR’s third trip to Indy, every winner of both the Brickyard 400 and the Indianapolis 500 has knelt down and kissed the Yard of Bricks — usually alongside team members. This post-race ritual has only added to the aura of Indianapolis, which first hosted NASCAR in August 1994.
“The dream of kissing the bricks is a real thing,” Logano said. “That’s the real thing for me. I would love to be in that position some day.”
Perhaps that day will come for Logano in less than two weeks when the Cup Series returns to Indianapolis for the running of the Brickyard 400 on Sunday, July 27.
