Ford Racing Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Coca-Cola 600 Media Availability — Charlotte Motor Speedway
Saturday, May 23, 2026
Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse, has one career NASCAR Cup Series victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway with that coming in the Bank of America 500 in 2015. Logano held a Q&A session with reporters earlier today and spoke about a variety of topics.
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse – APPARENTLY THERE WAS A BASKETBALL GAME AT TALLADEGA WITH THE FAMILIES AND KYLE WAS SMACK TALKING YOU THROUGH THE ENTIRE THING. WHAT CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THAT GAME AND WAS A REFLECTION OF THE THAWING OF YOUR RELATIONSHIP? “First off, our hearts are broken. I think our community couldn’t be more surprised. Our eyes have been open to a lot of different things here in the last couple days and it’s affected everybody here in a very unique way in a very heart touching way as well throughout this week and seeing how everybody comes together in moments like this is pretty impressive to see. But, yes, to answer your question, probably one of the last times I talked to Kyle was at the playground at Talladega. I remember seeing him and the first thing I walked up to him because it was right after he did a podcast saying how he didn’t like me, and, of course, because I just hit things head-on I walked up to him and said, ‘What the heck, I thought we were friends?’ Then we had a good laugh about it and joked about it. Brexton and Hudson, they play together all the time. He’s a great kid and so they’re shooting hoops and, to be honest with you, neither one of us knew how to play basketball worth a crap, so I’m glad no cameras saw it because it would have been a little embarrassing. It hurt my argument of being an athlete, so I’m glad nobody saw it, but it was a side of Kyle where you can get him away from the racetrack and away from the competitive environment. I got to spend a lot of time with him flying to the west coast and playing cards and stuff like that. Even though we had this little rivalry, if you will, on the racetrack and we didn’t see eye-to-eye on a lot of things from that perspective, we were able to put that stuff away and joke around and have a little piece of what that is and, to your point, who know what would have been once we were done racing. You see everybody changes. When you’re done racing you bury the hatchet, if you will. It was obviously far too young and far too soon. There aren’t words to describe how I feel, but also everybody else in the garage today, and not just the garage but our fans. You see the social media stuff from around the world and all the way to our president. You think about the impact that Kyle made in our sport, but also around the world is pretty incredible.”
WHAT MADE KYLE SUCH A GREAT DRIVER? “Obviously, he had a ridiculous amount of God given talent. You knew that from when he first started. He was one of the youngest to come in. He was the youngest coming in right before me, so I watched everything he did and tried to learn from it, so he had a ton of talent, but he had a ridiculous amount of grit, which was probably what made him one of the greatest is that he was fiery, he had the will to win and he was gonna push and do whatever he could do to make that happen. You saw plenty of moves on the racetrack. He was very intelligent and very smart about the race car. He knew what he wanted, and I always feel like he raced very fair on the racetrack on top of all that, but I think what made him great was just his determination. I mean, the guy was out there racing anything he could get in at any point, just like O’Donnell probably said it the best, he was an American badass. When you think race car driver and what that person should be like or would be like, Kyle Busch is probably one of the first that comes to your mind on the type of racer he was. Like I said, he was fair about a lot of things and he was tough, really tough.”
IS THERE ONE THING HE DID ON THE TRACK THAT JUMPS OUT TO YOU AS A MEMORY? “Gosh, there are quite a few. He was quite the highlight reel on so many levels, whether it was on track or sitting where I’m sitting right now, I think we all have memories of just the things that he would do or say was just pure and raw. On the racetrack, I always think about those saves that he had at Daytona and he’s sparking the track bar mount across the track and how amazing that was, and obviously the wins. The numbers are staggering. The numbers I don’t see ever being beat. A lot of those stats and records will forever be there. That legacy and legend will continue for generations into the future, in my opinion. It’s hard to pick one. Like I said, he’s quite the highlight reel for everybody.”
CAN YOU TALK MORE ABOUT WHAT YOUR FIRST IMPRESSIONS WERE OF KYLE, AND WAS THERE A TIPPING POINT IN THAT RELATIONSHIP WHERE IT IMPROVED? “I feel like we probably had a rollercoaster of a relationship. Early in my career, he was my teammate, so obviously I watched and learned and created a good relationship there. We went on vacation together. I remember and that relationship I still think was there deep down inside. Unfortunately, sometimes competition gets in the way of things and kind of was there for a little bit, but I do think over the last five or six years that relationship was growing, maybe not at a very fast rate, but it was definitely mending. We raced each other a lot on the racetrack and was very fair about stuff. We may have had fun in the media a little bit and said things and gone along with it, but I do think a lot of it there was a lot of respect between the both of us, definitely me towards him on what he was able to accomplish on the track. Like I said, we had a lot of laughs and a lot of fun – kind of joking about a lot of it just because I’m gonna hit it head on and make an awkward moment and talk about it, and it was always fun to see the reaction of Kyle in those moments and just kind of breaking that ice and breaking that tension. Over time, that relationship would grow. Like I said, our kids would really be one of the biggest pieces that was growing that relationship. When you’re over at MRO and everyone is hanging out, and that’s probably one of the things that has hit me the hardest throughout all of this is thinking about Brexton and Lennix. I couldn’t imagine. The first thing I want to do is just go hug my kids, and I’m sure everybody in here thought about their family members immediately. I think that’s one of the biggest things we can take out of all this is just taking every moment living it to the fullest. You truly don’t know when it’s your last day. I don’t think anyone would have ever thought. Kyle is only five years older than me. You don’t think about that type of stuff. Immediately I started thinking about what are the things I’m putting off healthwise that I should be attacking right now. I’m not making speculations of anything that happened with Kyle, I just know personally inside – and all of us should be thinking that too – is we shouldn’t put anything off. We should hit everything head-on if we can, mend relationships if we can, hug our loved ones while we can because you just never know.”
ONE OF THE DRIVERS SAID EARLIER IT DOESN’T FEEL LIKE A RACE WEEKEND. WHAT IS IT LIKE OUT THERE AND WHAT WILL IT BE LIKE TRYING TO GO RACE ON SUNDAY? “It’s definitely a very different vibe. I never really felt anything like this before at the racetrack. I was up in the booth last night for the Truck race and it was a different feeling from up there. The majority of the time we talked about Kyle as we should. We talked about some stories. We asked a lot of drivers for their stories and obviously that is continuing into today and the rest of the weekend and I’m sure for many years into the future it will be like that, as it should be, but it is definitely a sad day at the racetrack. I can’t say there are many days that people can say that. A lot of people say that a day at the racetrack is better than a day anywhere else, but today it just doesn’t feel normal. You just kind of see less smiles and everybody is sad. It’s an emotion that we’re all feeling as raw as it can be and we’re all trying to handle it in our own way while we’re still going about our business – as you guys are writing countless stories at the moment and we’re still trying to figure out how do we win the Coca-Cola 600 – but there are some pretty heavy emotions on our hearts.”
GOING FORWARD, HOW DO YOU THINK RACES WILL CHANGE WITH HIS ABSENCE? “I’m not sure how to answer that. I think the race itself is different without him out there, but I think the industry itself at a larger scale will be impacted more so than just the race. The race is always just the end. That’s the result of what everything you do going into the week and something that I thought was pretty interesting last night up there in the booth was how many team members he’s worked with in at least the Truck Series. You hear stories from so many different people and how Kyle impacted them one way or the other, most of them being ‘he made me better.’ That was the common thing that I heard. ‘He forced me to be better.’ He made people feel uncomfortable. He pushed them. That’s a good trait to have. You want a leader that’s like that and he’s touched countless team members throughout all three garages. I can’t say I’ve done that. That’s something that’s pretty unique. For me, I’ve driven for one team for the most part – two, but for the most part I know our group really, really well. He’s worked with so many different teams, whether it’s the Trucks or Xfinity or Cup. All of them, he’s been around for years and he’s made people stronger that was around him, and I think that’s the impact that he’s leaving behind and that’s gonna change a lot, but also will continue for generations – the impact he made – but it will change a lot going into the future too.”
HOW WILL YOU REMEMBER THE BATTLES WITH KYLE AND HOW DOES THAT PERSPECTIVE CHANGE IN LIGHT OF ALL THIS? “I feel like I’ve always been the kind of person that wants to see the best of anybody. Like I say, Kyle had a lot of great traits and the memories on track, obviously, they’ll be there, but racing isn’t what life is, you know what I mean? I know we all get consumed in this stuff and it is a great sport and it’s done a lot for my family, it’s done a lot for everybody here and the fans and the joy it brings for everybody – absolutely – but it’s not everything. It’s not what makes you as a person, and I think that’s important to remember throughout these type of moments. The moments that I’ll probably remember some of the most is like Michael (McDowell) was talking about earlier when we were playing basketball or just cutting up with each other, giving each other a hard time. I mean, there were a lot of moments where we just picked on each other. It’s sad to lose that guy that we had those moments with. In moments like this, you learn to appreciate those things too because as much as at times he frustrated me and made me mad, it’s kind of sad to lose that. It’s kind of like a Tom & Jerry situation. You kind of miss when you don’t have that guy to do that with anymore, but definitely, like I said, and we had that respect for each other in that same way. It’s just really sad, but those are probably the memories that will stick with me as much as anything that happened on track.”
