Roger Penske on Joey Logano: ‘You Want to Be Sure He’s on Your Team’
Roger Penske landed himself a two-fer from his preseason conversation with Joey Logano. He wanted the driver of the No. 22 Ford to show leadership in the drivers’ room. He ended up getting that and a NASCAR Cup Series championship, too.
The owner of Team Penske also scored a second two-fer Sunday.
Roger Penske caps a successful racing season
Roger Penske has done everything from driving race cars to owning the tracks they compete on. However, he will always be known best in the sport as one of the most successful owners ever.
His teams’ achievements include 18 victories in the Indianapolis 500, beginning with Mark Donohue in 1972. Penske drivers have won 16 IndyCar season championships and three NASCAR Cup Series championships.
When Joey Logano won his second NASCAR title in five years on Sunday at Phoenix Raceway, it completed a 2022 season double for the owner. Earlier this fall, Will Power secured the IndyCar crown.
After coming close several times over the years, Team Penske finally holds both titles concurrently.
Joey Logano became Team Penske’s elder statesman in the drivers’ room
Brad Keselowski had a long and successful run at Team Penske, winning his Cup Series championship in 2012 and narrowly missing a second title in 2020. His credentials made him the driver that others on the NASCAR team looked toward for leadership. When Keselowski left for Roush Fenway Racing after the 2021 season, Joey Logano became the senior driver on the Penske squad.
The 32-year-old from Connecticut began driving in the Cup and Xfinity series concurrently in 2008 (he gave up the part-time Xfinity gig in 2019) and has piled up a combined 61 victories. His 31 triumphs in the top-tier series have come everywhere from Martinsville to Daytona, with the Bristol dirt track and Watkins Glen road course thrown in for good measure.
With Ryan Blaney progressing but still not a consistent threat and Austin Cindric coming in as a rookie, it was up to the 2018 Cup Series champion to lead the way this year.
For his part, Logano spoke to reporters about how there are sometimes hard conversations within a team but that it’s better to have them than it is to pretend problems don’t exist. He also credited his teammates.
“I wouldn’t say it’s just me stepping up,” Logano said. “I feel like Blaney stepped up a lot, and Austin is a good leader right off the bat, too, with this Next Gen car.”
Roger Penske on Joey Logano: ‘You Want to Be Sure He’s on Your Team’
Meeting with reporters after Sunday’s NASCAR Championship 4, team owner Roger Penske praised Joey Logano’s work alongside Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric. He also alluded to the two sides of the new Cup Series champion: unrelenting competitor on the track and a community-minded family man off it. In short, potential leadership material.
“Our relationship with Shell-Pennzoil couldn’t be better, and it’s because of the job that he’s done and what he does off the track,” Penske said. “And then he and Brittany, from a philanthropy standpoint, I see another part of Joey you don’t see when he puts his helmet on.
“But once he puts that helmet on, you want to be sure he’s on your team.
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