Joey Logano 'Grew Up in Front of Everybody' on Path to 600 Cup Starts

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On September 14, 2008, a fresh-faced Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) development driver by the name of Joey Logano made his debut in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 96 Hall of Fame Racing Toyota, less than four months after making his first start in NASCAR altogether.

It was a rapid ascent to the highest levels of stock car competition, one that for many talented drivers, could have seriously derailed any hopes of a substantial career in NASCAR. The Middletown, Connecticut-native didn't have that issue, though, and stood out in a major way.

That was almost 17 years ago, and in what has already been quite the substantial career in the NASCAR Cup Series, Logano has recorded an impressive 37 victories and three championships -- three of which have come in the last three years.

In Sunday's AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Dover Motor Speedway, Logano will flip a switch in his No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse for the 600th time in his NASCAR Cup Series career.

At the age of 35 years, 1 month, and 26 days, Logano is the youngest driver in NASCAR Cup Series history to achieve this milestone, beating Richard Petty by approximately six months.

"At first glance, I said, 'Well, it's just starts.' But then when you start thinking about it, to be able to be around in a sport as an athlete competing at a top level for 16-plus years, and hitting 600 starts, it's pretty incredible to have a career that long," Logano said. "It's something I take pride in. I'm proud of that, to be able to hit this marker. It's a lot of starts."

For Logano, his time in the NASCAR Cup Series hasn’t always been the easiest. After jumping full-time into the NASCAR Cup Series, the youngster struggled to collect the victories that many expected of him, which resulted in a change of scenery following the 2012 season.

One of the most iconic motorsports organizations of all time, Team Penske, signed Logano to drive a second NASCAR Cup Series entry in 2013. Behind the wheel of the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford is exactly where the three-time champion has stayed ever since.

“I grew up in front of everybody,” Logano said. From the time he debuted in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2008, and even from the time he joined Team Penske in 2013, the driver’s life has undergone some major changes. In 2014, Logano married his now-wife Brittany, and together the couple have had three children (Hudson, Jameson, and Emilia).

“All of us change over the years as you grow up. Life comes at you, and you evolve and keep going with it. Everybody, when you were 18 years old to 35 years old are some of the biggest changes in your life happen in that period of time. Getting married, having kids – that’s the biggest change you can ever have in your life, I think – but I did all of this in front of everybody.”

“Everybody went for the ride with me in ways, and not to mention the lessons learned on the racetrack and how I’ve changed as a race car driver, too, over that period of time, where I was a young, cocky kid coming in to get my humble pie and learning now to become a champion and learning a lot of lessons in front of everybody,” Logano added. “It’s kind of neat that race fans have been around that long and they see the evolution, if you will, of myself and, like you said, it’s interesting to publicly grow up in front of people, but it’s part of what sports are and being in the limelight, but it’s been a heck of a ride, for sure.”

Retirement? Not As Long As He's Winning Races...

Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

The odds are that, being 35 years of age, the end of Joey Logano’s career in the NASCAR Cup Series is closer than the beginning. However, the Team Penske driver isn’t quite ready to talk about his potential retirement just yet.

In fact, Logano has one simple criterion to determine whether he should continue on with his career at NASCAR’s top-level: he has to be able to win races.

“I always say as long as I can win. I really feel like that’s the standard for me,” Logano said. “I love racing, but I really love winning a lot more. If I can go race other things and win, I’ll go and do that, but my dream has always been to be a NASCAR driver, be a NASCAR champion and if I can win and be a help to my team, then I want to stick around. As soon as I feel like I’m a drag on the team and I’m not bringing anything to the table anymore, whether that’s on the racetrack or off the racetrack, that’s when I need to get out of the way at that point.”

After Sunday’s 400-mile contest at Dover, Logano will hold the 34th position on the all-time starts list in the NASCAR Cup Series, only two behind 33rd-place James Hylton. At such a young age, though, how far up the list could Logano realistically get?

Richard Petty (AKA “The King” currently holds the record for the most starts in the NASCAR Cup Series, making his 1,184th and final start in the 1992 Hooters 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. To exceed that mark - provided the schedule stays at 36 points-paying events - Logano would have to run every race until the end of the 2024 season. He would be 50 years old.

Logano isn’t delusional about his potential longevity, though. He knows that a professional athlete being able to compete at the highest level well into their 50s is a rarity (see Mark Martin). So maybe that’s not necessarily an obtainable goal.

“I would be an idiot to think you can be competing at the top level into your fifties. What athlete has ever done that? Something changes at some point, but right now, I still feel as fresh as ever. I feel as sharp as ever.”

However, to sit second-place on the all-time list (and be one of three drivers to ever exceed 900 NASCAR Cup Series starts), Logano would only need 906 starts, which he would achieve if he ran every single points-paying event until the third race of the 2033 season. That would only put him at 43 years old, a very realistic number considering Denny Hamlin is still active at 44 years old.

Regardless of where he’ll end up on the all-time starts list, Joey Logano is going to be around, and winning races and championships, for a little while longer.