2009 Rookie of the Year
2008 Raybestos Rookie of the Year: Joey Logano
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Not many 19-year olds can say they made history. Then again, Joey Logano isn’t your typical teenager. Logano etched his name into the NASCAR record books by capturing 2009 Raybestos® Rookie of the Year honors in the Sprint Cup Series at just 19 years of age. While other kids his age may have been adjusting to college life, Logano was completing his first season competing at NASCAR’s highest level.
The results were quite respectable. Logano captured top Raybestos® Rookie honors 26 times in 36 races and officially claimed the honor by 33 points (270-237) over Scott Speed. He finished the season with one win, three top-five and seven top-10 finishes and placed 20th in the final series championship standings. Logano became the third driver from Joe Gibbs Racing to win Raybestos® Rookie of the Year, joining Tony Stewart (1999) and Denny Hamlin (2006).
“It’s really cool to get the Raybestos® Rookie of the Year,” Logano said moments after officially clinching the honor Nov. 22 at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway. “It was obviously one of our big goals. I’ve got to thank The Home Depot for sticking behind me throughout the year. We had a real rough start and finished 20th in the points, which I guess is okay. In the beginning of the season if you had told me that’s where we were going to finish I’d have been ecstatic about it but now you always want better. I just want to thank all my guys for sticking with me through the year.”
Logano got off to a slow start in the opening races of the 2009 season which led some observers to question if the young driver moved up to NASCAR’s elite series too quickly. But Logano put all that to rest by midseason when he scored his first Cup victory at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in just his 20th career start.
“It was tough at times believe me,” Logano said. “You know the media wasn’t saying the greatest things but if anything it’s more motivating. You really want to keep pushing it and become a better race car driver. I was getting a little self confidence out of Nationwide car which was helping me there and just kept pushing it and trying to learn these race cars as much as I can. I feel like we made big steps. Hopefully through the offseason we can get some more seat time in these things and come out better in 2010.”
Moments after the 2009 season finale at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway, Logano was reminded of a media luncheon five years prior when veteran driver Mark Martin said that he would hire him immediately to drive in the Cup series. Those comments opened doors for the young driver and proved to be quite prophetic.
“At the time I thought that was awesome,” Logano said. “To be honest that’s something that got me to this point if it wasn’t for him saying stuff like that to get me a ride like this. It was a real big deal in my career.”
