Gibbs dials down pressure for wunderkind Logano

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Few drivers on the Sprint Cup circuit logged more time behind the steering wheel of a Sprint Cup car last year than Joey Logano, who in addition to his Nationwide Series duties was a one-man testing terror for Joe Gibbs Racing. Forget "Sliced Bread," the nickname Randy Lajoie bestowed on the teen wonder as he shredded one development tour after another. "Test dummy" was more like it. There's little glory in circling New Smyrna or Iowa for hour after hour, trying out new suspension systems or brake parts.

More than his age-defying Nationwide victory at Kentucky, more than his three Sprint Cup starts, it's those endless laps of testing that have prepared Logano for NASCAR's biggest stage. In retrospect, it proved a prescient move by Gibbs officials, given the ban on testing that followed last season. But it's one thing to navigate the race track all alone, driving a nondescript car on a nondescript oval, searching more for information than performance. It's quite another to step into one of the more iconic vehicles in NASCAR's modern era, on the sport's biggest stage, in the grandest event in stock-car racing, with 180,000 sets of eyes watching to see you live up to your nickname.

No wonder Logano and his bosses at Joe Gibbs Racing are doing their best to temper expectations, although that may be akin to corralling a race horse that long ago burst out of the stable. By now, everybody knows the Sliced Bread story -- heralded by Mark Martin as the next big thing at 15, signed by Gibbs at 16, a championship in the Camping World East regional series and a victory in his first ARCA start at 17, the youngest winner in the history of the Nationwide Series at 18 years and 21 days, chosen by Gibbs to replace Tony Stewart in the team's No. 20 car, and now on track to become the youngest driver to start the Daytona 500 when he takes the green flag in the season opener on Sunday.

It's been a meteoric, record-breaking rise. Logano has won, sometimes with astonishing quickness, at every level at which he's competed. He's lived up to every expectation, even exceeded a few of them. But now, with his first Daytona 500 looming, team officials are urging something not always associated with young race car drivers -- patience. At least publicly, they've gone out of their way to state that for right now, at least, the pressure is off.

"I certainly wouldn't put a lot on Joey," Joe Gibbs said. "We all know stepping up to these cars is a big deal. We kind of told him, 'OK, Joey, set your own pace. Hopefully we're putting the right people around you.' I don't think we've said anything to him, and neither has [sponsor] Home Depot, other than, we just want you to race every one of them as hard as you can and we'll all see where it winds up. I think it concerns you some because of his background, and everybody else saying, 'Hey, you're putting a lot of pressure on him.' But I don't think we are." (Continued)