Logano now full throttle with Cup future decided (cont'd)

Championship DNA

Logano may not have been on this earth long enough or away from the racetrack enough to know all that much about the home-improvement business. But he does have a feel for how the sponsorship stuff works in NASCAR.

So the truth is while he might turn a wrench or even two in the garage area now and again at the racetrack, he's likely to leave the sawing and swinging of hammers to others. And that's just fine with Home Depot.

Joey Logano is the youngest driver in history to win a race in NASCAR's second-tier division. He did it in his third career Nationwide start earlier this year at the age of 18 years and 21 days.

• Logano to drive JGR's No. 20
• Teen makes history with win

Bifulco admitted there was much internal discussion at his company about replacing Stewart, who has been a stalwart centerpiece of marketing and advertising campaigns at Home Depot for nearly a decade now, with Logano, who is nearly two decades younger.

In the end, Logano's appeal was strong enough for the company to not only commit to a big check for next season, but for several years beyond (Gibbs and Bifulco would not disclose the exact number). Bifulco explained why.

"We're in a world now where you have a 72-year-old running for president, and you have 18- and 19-year-old young men and women fighting wars," Bifulco said. "I kind of don't like the notion of Joey as the kid. I think what we see in Joey is a mature young man who has the values, the work ethic and the competence. You look at what Joey has done already behind the wheel of a car, and that certainly gives us comfort going forward that he can deal with the pros."

Bifulco, it was assumed, was talking about the other professional drivers Logano will meet on the track. But he might have been talking about the pros in marketing and advertising whom he insisted will work with Logano to help the young man find a way to sell more saws and hammers at the Home Depot even if he has no idea how to use them.

And again, that comes back to being ready to be successful first on the track. That is the platform from which all else flows.

"When you have an association the way I think we do at Home Depot with Joe Gibbs Racing, you have shared accountabilities and specific responsibilities," Bifulco said. "When Coach and [team president] J.D. [Gibbs, Joe's son] come to us and say they think they have a driver worthy of getting into the No. 20 car, they're the experts. We're not. We're going to defer to their judgment.

"Certainly we had robust discussions about it. But after meeting with Joey and his parents and seeing what he can do and the type of individual and young man he is ... we know Joey has championship-caliber DNA."

From trash to tracks

Tom Logano was in the garbage business in Portland, Conn., and did not aspire to have Joey become a racer.

"He was in a eight-horsepower go-kart at age 4, running around the dumpsters and trailer trucks that I owned up there," the elder Logano said. "We knew he was having fun and doing some things, but I never followed racing. I'm not a racer. I was a baseball coach. Well, I was his T-ball coach and his basketball coach. He hated it; he wanted no part of that. But he loved that go-kart.

"We put him in a quarter-midget and we knew he was above-average. But a lot of kids are above-average. We went down to Georgia and put him in a Legends car at 9 years old and he kept winning. That's when we said, 'Wow, this kid's really special.' "

By then, Tom Logano had sold Logano Trucking, which had dealt with disposal of hazardous construction and demolition debris, and was starting to see that there might be bright lights at the end of the tunnel Joey was racing through ever so rapidly.

At age 12, Logano won the National Pro Legends championship and caught the attention of veteran Cup driver Mark Martin. By 15, he had signed with JGR as a developmental driver -- or rather his father had signed for him. It wasn't until last Monday that Joey actually was old enough to seal an agreement with JGR with his own signature.

By then Logano had already become the youngest driver in history to win a race in NASCAR's second-tier division, now known as the Nationwide Series. He did it in his third career Nationwide start earlier this year at the age of 18 years and 21 days.

That broke the record of Casey Atwood, who did it in 1999 at the age of 18 years, 10 months and 26 days, and was promptly anointed as the next great stock-car driver. Atwood eventually has endured a rocky career during which he has failed to live up to expectations. That is another story, but one that Logano is determined not to repeat.

Despite his youth and his father's insistence that Joey "can be a normal kid" who enjoys some other facets of life such as boating, water-skiing, skating, ice hockey and the occasional video game, Logano insists that he is well aware of all that awaits him. He knows his life is about to become a full-throttle existence, with JGR planning for him to run not only the full Cup schedule next season but possibly even a full Nationwide Series schedule.

"I feel I'm mature," Logano said. "I've been racing my whole life. Being associated with Joe Gibbs Racing the last three years has made me a lot more mature -- talking to the guys and hanging with Zip, doing all the testing that we've done. That has helped me on and off the racetrack. My family also has helped me mature as a teenager.

"So I feel I'm ready for this. There are still times where I can be a kid. But what do I do? I usually go go-kart racing with my friends or something like that."

Tell Coach something he doesn't already know.

• Related: Silly Season 2008 | Logano to replace Stewart in No. 20