TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) Joey Logano — Notes & Quotes Daytona Media Day – February 16, 2012
JOEY LOGANO, No. 20 Home Depot Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Do you think you started competing in the Sprint Cup Series too early? “Looking at it now — probably yeah. There’s a lot more to it than I thought. I was 18 years old, I had the opportunity to jump in the Home Depot car and I probably would do it again. Who wouldn’t? It was definitely the right thing to do, but once you get in there and realize how much more stuff actually comes along with that. It’s the off the track stuff and dealing with people and how to deal with certain situations — how to keep a team motivated and be a leader. It was all stuff that when you’re 18 years old — you don’t really know how to do that. You just go out there and race all the time. Some of that came really easy to me — even Nationwide came really quick. It was a lot bigger jump than I thought just because of all the off track stuff.”
Do you see yourself as more of a team leader this year? “You have to step it up and the first thing is realizing that obviously. With this crew chief change now, it allows it to be your team — it allows you to be a leader. That’s a really big deal for me and I think Jason (Ratcliff, crew chief) and I are on the same level with each other. We’re doing this together and I think it’s going to help us out a lot.”
How frustrating was 2011? “It was very frustrating. Obviously, we came into last season with a ton of confidence and momentum. We thought we were going to go out there and make some big things happen and then we really fell on our faces. Our whole company wasn’t as strong as it needed to be. We had a lot of little problems — we lost that momentum and we got into a hole and never dug ourselves out, so at the end of the season you can’t expect to just keep on doing that. You have to do something different — you have to change something and bring some new life in. Personally, I feel more confidence coming into this year than I did last year even, which arguably, I probably shouldn’t, but I do. I feel like we can go out and do some good things this year.”
Do you need to start the season strong? “I think it’s very important to take off strong out of the hole here. That’s really going to set the tone for the season. You look at last year — we didn’t set the tone very well and we struggled all year. I think it’s a really big deal to get out and get going — get those points early and make that Chase. I don’t think you can afford to have bad races right off the bat.”
What would it be like to win the Daytona 500? “It would be pretty cool. Ever since you were little, you always think about making it in the (Daytona) 500 or any type of race. It would be huge — it would be a career changer. I think everyone saw what it did for Trevor (Bayne) last year by winning that race. It’s a really big race to win. We’re all out there trying to do the same thing. In some ways, it’s no different than any other weekend and in other ways, its way bigger than any other weekend. You go in there with the same attitude as you do any other race.”
Will Joe Gibbs Racing teams work together more in 2012? “When you have a bad season like that, I think typically the next year is a lot better or one of your better seasons. You learn to take a step back and look at what happened last year, what you learned from that and I think a lot of that is going to bring us back together and a lot better. Obviously, with Jason (Ratcliff, crew chief) there now — Jason and Dave (Rogers, crew chief, No. 18 Camry) have worked together a lot so that’s going to help that communication out a lot. Darian (Grubb, crew chief, No. 11 Camry), I think is definitely plugged in and ready to go really quick. They are all getting along really quick. The three crew chiefs are definitely on the same page.”
What are your expectations for this year? “Expectations are to go out there and win some races. That’s what they need to be. Go out there and make the Chase and do the best we can. We need to try to go out there and win every race — that’s our plan.”
Do you feel different starting this season versus previous seasons? “I do feel quite a bit different. Definitely a very important year for me. I feel like I’ve got my ducks in a row better than any other year. I feel like I’ve got the guys behind me and we are coming in here expecting a lot. I think we’re all excited about it. Our whole team is pumped up and we’re working hard. We are all excited about the changes we’ve made.”
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TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) Joey Logano — Notes & Quotes Daytona Media Day – February 16, 2012
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JOEY LOGANO, No. 20 Home Depot Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing (continued) Do you feel secure in your career? “In this sport you’re never going to feel secure in anything. I think that goes for everybody. Not just drivers — it goes for the guys working on the cars, it goes for media — it goes for everybody. You’re never going to be secure in any job. Things change, especially in an economy like this. Anything can happen. Obviously, you have to take that and find a way to have it motivate you one way or another. You want to be comfortable and you want to be secure and know everything is fine. You have to go out there and motivate yourself to do whatever you can to give yourself that feeling and the main way to do that is to go out and win races and win championships.”
How has your relationship with Jason Ratcliff developed? “We have a good time and the communication is there. I go barge into his (Jason Ratcliff, crew chief) office and sit down and want to go to lunch and hang out. He’s come over to the house a few times. I tried to cook dinner — it really didn’t come out that well. I felt bad. It was a bad first impression of me trying to cook a steak. I don’t know what happened — I marinated it and it fell apart. The steak still tasted good even though it didn’t look good. We’ve had a good time.”
Are you looking forward to working with Jason Ratcliff on the Cup side? “I got to work with Jason (Ratcliff) for two races on the Nationwide side and I thought, ‘Man, I wish I could work with him more and see where we could really take this.’ When they talked about putting him in I was like, ‘Heck yeah, that’s fine, let’s do it.’ The more we’ve worked with each other, the more we can really take our time — that’s the big thing about Jason, he takes his time. I don’t know if he’s stressed out or not, but he doesn’t seem like he’s stressed out and that carries throughout the whole team. It’s just a relaxed atmosphere, but still very intense. You’re still out there trying to win races, but he will take his time. In practice even — he takes his time and makes sure that he really knows what the car is doing. He asks me questions that he needs to know the answers to and what changes to make and then we’re going to make the change. We’re going to really take our time a lot more than we have in the past. That’s going to be a good thing.”
