NASCAR Cup Series

All grown up: Joey Logano is feeling and racing like a veteran

Published Sep. 26, 2014 11:16 a.m. ET

foxsports

When Joey Logano first started making waves in NASCAR circles, he was barely a teenager. Heralded for his success at such a young age, he caught the attention of many in the NASCAR garage, including but not limited to the respected veteran Mark Martin.

With so much hype and emphasis placed on his future potential, Logano was given the moniker "Sliced Bread" before he even had a chance to prove himself in the NASCAR ranks.

The anticipation was so great for his NASCAR career that Joe Gibbs Racing and Charlotte Motor Speedway held a birthday celebration for Logano on his 18th birthday, complete with a race car cake.

Fast-forward six years and Logano is finally living up to the expectations placed on him at such a young age. Now a grizzled 24-year-old, Logano is at the top of his game, is seriously contending for his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship and just signed a contract extension with Team Penske. No wonder he's feeling like like a Sprint Cup veteran despite his relative youth.

"A huge advantage that I have right now is that I'm 24 years old with six years of experience under my belt. That's awesome," said Logano on Friday at Dover International Speedway. "There's no one else that can say that right now."

Thrust into the sport at such a young age, Logano is quick to point out that the drivers coming into the sport these days are mostly around his current age. With so much Sprint Cup experience already under his belt, he feels he is poised to continue his success for years to come.

"If you look at the way this sport is, typically the peak of their career is six to 15 years into their career is usually when you have that experience," he said. "Experience pays off in NASCAR racing more than the age does, so to be able to hit your peak at a younger age possibly, I can prolong my career with a lot more wins a little bit longer. All of that hard work is paying off right now."

His road to the top has not been easy, however. Logano was brought up into the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at the age of 19 when Tony Stewart left Joe Gibbs Racing to start his own team, Stewart-Haas Racing, in 2009.

While Logano was able to score his first career win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in his rookie season, he did so largely thanks to veteran crew chief Greg Zipadelli's strategy and the increasing rain around the track.

As the years went on and Logano tried to fill Stewart's seat in the No. 20 Home Depot car, he struggled to meet the high expectations and live up to the nicknamed placed on him at a young age. At times, instead of looking like sliced bread, he looked more like burnt toast.

Rumors swirled around his future at Joe Gibbs Racing, as disappointing results led many to speculate Logano's spot on the team and in the No. 20 car was constantly in jeopardy.

In 2012, Logano announced he would leave JGR to join Team Penske for the 2013 season. The fresh start was enough to reinvigorate his career and take it to the next level. In his first season with Penske, Logano won a race and made the Chase for the Sprint Cup for the first time.

This season, Logano has scored a career-high four victories and with his win last Sunday in New Hampshire became one of two drivers (teammate Brad Keselowski is the other) to formally lock up a spot in the Chase Contender Round.

Logano's success has in large part come thanks to the chemistry and teamwork that permeates across the board at Team Penske. From working with crew chief Todd Gordon, to teammate Keselowski, to team owner Roger Penske, the commitment to working together as a unit has been unlike anything Logano experienced before arriving at Team Penske.

"Everyone has the same things and the same tools, but it's the people that run the tools and operate them is where the difference is," said Logano. "And I think having that team chemistry between both race teams -- the 2 and the 22 -- I think having it within the 22 team, all of us the way we work together and the attitude we have when we get to the racetrack -- I think we're all on the same page. I think that's important."

After all the ups and downs in his relatively young career, Logano called his new contract extension with Team Penske a "dream come true," and said he would not change what he went through earlier in his career.

"A few years back, only a couple of years ago, I really didn't have a job," he said. "It was like, 'Oh boy, what am I going to do? Am I going to race the rest of my life? What's Plan B?' And all of a sudden I'm sitting in a good position. I've got a multi-year deal that I'm going to be racing for a while. I'm winning races. We've got a lot of top fives. If you would have told me all of this was going to happen a couple years ago, I would have said, 'Yeah, that's nice. I don't know if that will happen, but it sounds really good.' But that hard work is paying off now.

"I love that I went through each and every experience that I've gone through, because that's what shaped me into who I am and the driver and person that I am now," he said. "So I'm proud that I went through all of it. It was hard, but did I think I'd be sitting here a couple of years ago saying what I'm saying right now? Probably not, but I'm gonna enjoy the ride while I can -- that's for sure."