Ford Performance NASCAR Notes and Quotes
Daytona 500 Advance – Daytona International Speedway
Friday, February 24, 2017
Team Penske announced today a multi-year extension with sponsor Shell/Pennzoil, driver Joey Logano and crew chief Todd Gordon through the 2022 season and beyond. Car owner Roger Penske and Logano were part of a press conference announcing the extensions. Below are excerpts from that event.
ROGER PENSKE, Owner – No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Fusion – CAN YOU DISCUSS THE EXTENSION WITH JOEY? “We thought if we would extend Shell it might be a good idea to give Logano a call and see if he’d be interested in hanging around for another seven years. We called Joey and Joey came down with his team to see us and I think in two hours once he heard the good news about Shell we were able to sit down and put together a long-term contract, which is amazing, and I think that’s the confidence that he has in our team and also our people. I think about Rick Mears. People look at Helio, 17 years with us, this is what we want and that’s why I think we’ve been successful is because the driver makes such a difference because they set the tone at the top, which then drives all the way down to the guy changing the right-front tire and the left-rear tire. So we’re thrilled to have Joey and he can think about driving and not worrying about his contract, which is probably good for both of us.”
JOEY LOGANO – No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Fusion – “It’s an amazing opportunity. It’s an amazing honor for me to be a part of this announcement today. Over the last four years and going into my fifth year with Team Penske it’s been a huge turn in my career since I’ve been able to start with them. The biggest thing I’ve learned is to surround yourself with greatness and there’s greatness here. To be a part of something like that and surrounding yourself with people that are even smarter than you from not only the people on this stage today, but you think about the 22 team and how close we’ve been able to grow together and being able to attach Todd Gordon to this as well is a huge advantage for us as a race team – to keep that continuity like Roger said – not only with a sponsor and with the driver and a team, but keeping everyone together and just growing off of what we’ve been able to accomplish over the last four years and getting closer to that championship that we’ve come so close to over the last three years. I’m very fortunate and very excited about this. This was, to me, one of those decisions that was a no-brainer. When you’re able to find yourself in an amazing opportunity with a lot of winners around you, that’s great. Doug, you said I would be the most relaxed person here, but a lot of pressure comes along with this and I love pressure and I’m glad to have it. I said it last year at Homestead, pressure is a privilege and it honestly is to have this opportunity to race for Roger Penske and Shell and Pennzoil and what they expect – to go out there and win. I want to have that opportunity and want to be with people that want to win as bad as me. So, it was a no-brainer for me to look at this and say, ‘Hey, this is working really well.’ I’d love to extend this as long as I can, so when a seven-year deal is thrown in front of you, you obviously jump on that opportunity to go out there and win championships together as a team, so I’m looking forward to the opportunity and looking forward to kicking it off here in Daytona.”
ROGER PENSKE CONTINUED – “We talked about this and I said, ‘You’ve got to win at least 50 races,’ so of course he sent me after last weekend, ’49 to go.’ JOEY SAYS – “That was the first thing I said, ‘Almost there.’”
JOEY LOGANO CONTINUED – WHAT DOES THE STABILITY OF SEVEN YEARS OF SPONSORSHIP MEAN TO YOU? “The fact that it all goes together is unheard of. This is a very positive story in our sport, to see the commitment of a very large company like Shell and Pennzoil are and for them to be able to sign up with this team really makes a statement for not only where Team Penske is, but for where NASCAR is as a sport and that’s something I’m proud to be a part of.”
JOEY LOGANO CONTINUED — WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE STYLE OF RACING HELIO DOES? “I think when I watched the Fontana race I think we all thought, ‘Oh my God, they’re crazy.’ It is two very different disciplines of racing, but there are also some similarities that we’re able to talk about and joke about as race car drivers we’re able to have a lot in common. But an Indy car drives a lot different than a NASCAR Cup car. It’s definitely a different game for sure, but it seems like the way we side draft is a little bit different than the way they do it and the moves that they make are so quick and with our cars it takes a little bit longer to make the move. We can’t swing as much weight around as quick as they can, and then the bumping and banging and pushing we have in our packs is different than what you see on the Indy car side. They’re definitely very different, but we’re still race car drivers so we have that similarity.”
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT WHAT IT MEANT TO COME TO TEAM PENSKE AND NOW THIS EXTENSION? “That moment in my career four years ago was a game-changer and this day today is once again going to be a game-changer for me as a race car driver. For them to have the confidence in me as a driver, and not only Roger, but he put me together with this amazing team with this 22 car. I don’t think I emphasize that enough and how great this team was and how they were needing some consistency at the time and with Todd Gordon leading it and being able to just grow this family is amazing. To extend Todd’s deal along with this becomes very important to me. I look at Todd as a friend and a great, great crew chief. We’re able to read each other really well and he’s able to make these great decisions out on the race track. He leads our team from a great aspect of not being the guy that’s on top and looking down at everyone. Roger says this all the time, ‘He’s not too good to sweep the floors,’ and that’s important – to lead by example. Our team is able to do that. There’s not one guy better than the other, so I think keeping us all together is a huge opportunity.”
ROGER PENSKE CONTINUED – YOUR TEAMS HAVE LOW TURNOVER. WHY? “I guess it’s a business premise that we run our company with because just the DNA of your business. We try to work with people from the ground up. When you think about it, we have some 400 people in our racing operation today and 10 percent of them have come from UTI – Universal Technical Institute — people that want to be technicians and they go to NASCAR tech. This is how we built the company and I think if you can show leadership opportunities and you reward the people, and it’s not always about money. There are people who would come and work on the 22 car, the 2 or the 21 just to be part of the team and I think that’s what we try to develop through the whole organization. I look, quite honestly, every single month with every company we have I’m looking at turnover and when you have high turnover, you usually get poor results and you know you’ve got to make a change. I think we’ve been fortunate with our drivers. Rick Mears, all the way to the end of his career, you think of Bobby Unser and Al, and certainly Helio going on his 18th year, and this is part of the business. That’s what keeps me going, to be honest with you, because you make these commitments. It’s one thing to say you’ve got a sponsor, but you make these commitments to the people inside the organization and that means more to me than maybe getting a trophy this weekend – to be sure that I get a trophy with my people.”
JOEY LOGANO CONTINUED — WHAT ATTRACTED YOU TO TEAM PENSKE? “Winning. I think that’s the most simple way to put it. As a race car driver I’ve been able to look at Team Penske before I was here and see the greatness and how they do things differently. You can tell just by the way the teams appear with the way they dress, and how beautiful the cars look all the time you know that the attention to detail is there and when the attention to detail is that important you know they’re looking at a lot of other things that aren’t visible to the person that’s outside the team looking in, so as a race car driver when you see greatness to the naked eye when you’re looking from the outside-in you know there’s a lot more to it, and now as a driver inside the team I can see that. I can see the greatness that starts from the top with Roger all the way through the whole company and the way it’s all structured and the people Roger has placed throughout this race team. It’s pretty incredible to see it. That’s obviously what attracted me to start, but what attracts me to stay is seeing what it really is and wanting to be a part of it.”
ROGER PENSKE CONTINUED – WHERE ARE YOU WITH BRAD’S DEAL? “We’re in conversation today and I think this came up faster than we expected because we’ve been working on it with Shell, and we hope that we’ll be announcing a long-term contract with Brad. I think we’re a long way down the road with him.”
THIS MUST BE A HIGH-WATER MARK IN THE INDUSTRY TO HAVE A SEVEN-YEAR DEAL. “I think it’s an exclamation point on the commitment that Shell and Pennzoil have to the sport, to the industry from the standpoint of where they do business, and I think the ability for us to partner with them is exactly our game plan. That’s our mission – to be with partners – and if I look back and think about the success we’ve had over these years it’s been because of partnerships that are long-term. In today’s world of risk and uncertainty, to be able to have this opportunity is amazing for me.”
