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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – When Joey Logano captured the 2015 Daytona 500, he became the 36th driver to win NASCAR’s biggest race.
It is the Sprint Cup Series’ signature event, always has been and likely always will be. Win a Daytona 500 trophy and it’s something race fans will talk about for years.
Who finished second in last year’s race? Was it Kevin Harvick? Dale Earnhardt Jr.? Tony Stewart or Matt Kenseth? Few folks probably recall. But the winner? Sure.
The 58th running of what broadcaster Ken Squier aptly described as the “Great American Race” is Sunday at Daytona International Speedway (1 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
“It’s cool; it sounds good when they introduce you like that,” Logano, driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford, said Tuesday during Media Day activities. “I have enjoyed it. And I am excited to get our car out of the museum and see our car again.”
Winning Daytona 500 entries are put on display at DIS for one year. Teams retrieve them prior to the start of the following season. The confetti hasn’t been wiped away, and dents and dings are still there.
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Giving up the car was a minor nuisance, but more than a fair trade for capturing a Daytona 500 title, according to the recipient of last season’s Harley J. Earl Trophy. But what’s done is done and the sport moves forward.
“What won last year is not going to win this year, whether it is what you do inside the car or the setup of the car,” said Logano, a 14-time winner in the series. “It’s because the sport is always evolving and getting better. [Winning the 500] is great but it [happened] last year, and we have to keep looking forward.”
Drivers are creatures of habit, most sticking to daily routines that have been constructed out of necessity. Some have taken it a bit further, mimicking past actions that led up to particular successes, eating the same meals, traveling the same routes to and from the track, or wearing the same clothing.
“I don’t do any of that,” Logano said. “I have tried that stuff before because you will try anything to win a race, but it doesn’t work. It is kind of disgusting if you start wearing the same underwear and stuff like that. It gets nasty pretty quick.”
He also said he doesn’t remember what he did before particular wins, including last season’s Daytona 500. “But I wouldn’t do it anyway,” he said. “To me, if I am thinking about a … sandwich and not what I am doing on the race track then I believe I’m doing it the wrong way.”
Ryan Newman won the Daytona 500 in 2008 while also driving for Team Penske. The 17-time race winner, now with Richard Childress Racing, said winning the 500 “changes people’s impressions of who you are.”
“It’s like having the ultimate hard card (credential) walking around Daytona,” Newman said. “It doesn’t change how I do things, what I do or how I think. But I think it changes people’s impressions of me in a good way, which is what you want.”
That his father, Greg, was in the spotter’s stand for his victory, he said, “made it ultra-sweet.”
This Sunday, Logano will attempt to become just the 12th driver to win multiple Daytona 500 titles, and join a list that consists of: seven-time winner Richard Petty; four-time winner Cale Yarborough; three-time winners Bobby Allison, Dale Jarrett and Jeff Gordon; two-time winners Bill Elliott, Sterling Marlin, Michael Waltrip, Matt Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson; and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
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Winning a Daytona 500 doesn’t necessarily make going after a second one any easier or less stressful.
“Race car drivers sort of live in the moment,” said Waltrip, who won the Daytona 500 in 2001 and ’03. “That type of thing (multiple wins) … is for later in life. You get to be 40 years old and you haven’t won one yet and you start thinking about winning a Daytona 500. Then it becomes more of a topic in your brain and the fact that you’re going to have to deal with not having one, possibly.
“Joey’s more worried about winning another one and the championship. This is just a race he knows he can win and that’s exactly the way he’s approaching it, in my opinion. Sure, he’d love to have another Daytona 500 trophy, but it’s because that’s this (next) race. I’m pretty sure he believes he’s going to have many, many more chances to win this race again.”
Logano placed 12th in last Sunday’s single-car qualifying. His official starting position won’t be determined until after Thursday’s Can-Am Duel qualifying races (first duel starts at 7 p.m. ET, FS1). A year ago, he started fifth in the Daytona 500 and finished trailing no one.
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“It is such a big race to be a part of,” he said. “Winning it is incredible. It is a hard feeling to explain. … Even a year later, I still can’t put it into words.
“I was just screaming on the radio and that is probably still the best way to explain it now.”