JOLIET, Ill. — Joey Logano is enjoying a third consecutive season in which he has qualified for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
For the second season in a row, his No. 22 Ford has been to Victory Lane on multiple occasions. His 16 top-five finishes equals his career-best earned last season, and with 20 top 10s, he’s just two shy of last year’s top-10s total of 22.
He has 10 races to improve upon those marks, 10 races to try and accomplish something bigger — win his first championship.
And yet in the midst of all the excitement and determination, the focus and attention on the job ahead, the 25-year-old is also hoping for something more.
The Joey Logano Foundation, through a new platform known as Chasing Second Chances, will award grants and support to selected charities in various markets along this year’s final 10 races.
The endeavor, which officially kicked off last weekend in Richmond, has tabbed Bear Necessities as a recipient for this weekend’s myAFibRisk.com 400 (Sunday, 3 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Chicagoland Speedway.
Next week, when the series travels to New Hampshire Motor Speedway, it will be David’s House. A week later, in Dover, Mission 22/Elder Heart will be the focus.
It will continue week after week, through the conclusion of the Chase in late November at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Some might think it’s a distraction. Some might believe it’s unwise to focus on anything other than trying to win the Sprint Cup championship
Logano, obviously, feels otherwise.
“It takes time, no doubt,” Logano said Friday at Chicagoland. “But there is nothing more rewarding than that.
“If you put a Sprint cup trophy in front of me and the opportunity to change someone’s life, and you had to pick one or the other, it’d be pretty selfish to pick the Sprint Cup trophy, that’s all I’ve got to say.
“You have to look at the big picture in life sometimes. Yes, I want to win a championship, but that doesn’t make you a champion in life. You know what I mean? A champion in life is using the tools that God’s given me to help others.”
The foundation will celebrate its third year next spring at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, the closest site the Connecticut native has in the series to a home track. His current goal for the foundation is to reach $1 million in donations.
“We have to get our foot in the gas a little bit and figure out how we’re going to do that,” Logano said. “We want to do it in a creative way and a way that fits with our mission of giving second chances and helping people in the racing community and race track areas.”
His time spent with his team might be valuable, but Logano said his time spent working with programs such as Chasing Second Chances is just as important. Sometimes it’s an appearance at a particular venue, on other occasions it might be providing funds necessary to help a charitable organization continue to provide help and assistance to a community.
“I’ve learned that I can have just as big of an impact by meeting someone and talking to them, trying to lift them up, as a check does,” he said. “If you can do both, that’s what we’re going to do.
“I’m trying to do my part and donate my time, but obviously a lot of the supporters of the foundation, we want to make sure their money is going to the right places and doing the right things. If we can put both of those together, we can do some amazing things for sure.”
More than two dozen organizations receive support from The Joey Logano Foundation.
“Whether it’s a homeless (situation) or it’s an illness a child has come down with — if you’re the family it’s really hard. When their child is in a hospital three hours down the road and you can’t go to work, well, how do you pay the bills?
“We’re working with an organization that helps that part out. It’s a little different than actually helping the child. But the family needs help as well. So we’re thinking outside the box with things like that.”
Logano himself got something of a second chance when he landed at Team Penske after four full seasons at Joe Gibbs Racing. Paired with crew chief Todd Gordon, he quickly rewarded team owner Roger Penske by qualifying for the Chase his first year, then winning five times and advancing all the way to the Championship 4 last season.
Now, he’s embarking on an opportunity to become one of the series’ youngest champions. But his desire to help others won’t take a backseat during his latest run for the title. He’s making sure of that.
“I want to see the foundation grow a lot. I want it to be a nationwide organization that people know and want to donate to,” he said. “I realize that’s going to take a lot of time and it’s not going to be easy. But it’s a challenge I want to pursue when I look at years and years down the road.
“We want to hit that million-dollar mark when we get to our third anniversary. Down the road we’re going to want to be over $1 million every year. But we have to be methodical with the steps we make, really think them out. Because it is running a business, there’s money coming in and money going out.
“You’ve got to think of it like a business but you get to run it with your heart — which is pretty fun.”