Each week, The Athletic asks the same 12 questions to a different race car driver. For the seventh consecutive season, Team Penske’s Joey Logano is the first interview of the year — and it just so happens Logano is the reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion. This interview has been edited and condensed, but the full version is available on the 12 Questions podcast.
1. What was one of the first autographs you got as a kid, and what do you remember about that moment?
So the first autograph I got wasn’t handed to me by the actual athlete. It was from my grandfather, who met Mario Andretti. Mario signed his hero card and wrote, “Keep chasing your dreams.” And it said, “To Joey.” I still have it. It’s the coolest.
The background of that is so cool because now I know Mario. I think it’s amazing he knows my name — that’s kind of crazy.
2. What is the most miserable you’ve ever been inside a race car?
Back in Atlanta years ago when I was driving the Home Depot car, (I had) the stomach bug. And that was 500 miles on the old track. It was a long time. That one was awful.
In the helmet?
I did not get sick in the helmet, but I didn’t feel good the whole race. I was like, “Just make it end.” The long green-flag runs — I was like, “Someone’s got to give me a little something here. I’m falling apart out here.” It was brutal.
3. Outside of racing, what is your most recent memory of something you got way too competitive about?
It’s everything. It extends to anything — you name it, it’s for the win. Whether it’s playing basketball with my kid or other businesses we do — I’m out to kill. I’m here to win. That’s it.
You don’t let the kids win?
So the way we have that set up is — I’m not a good basketball player, let’s just put that disclaimer out there — but I have to shoot from far away. There are rules in place where I still have to try, but I’m not giving them a win either. Because there’s a big height advantage here, you know? A massive one. (Laughs.)
4. What do people get wrong about you?
Most people can’t understand how I flip a switch from being that intense person we just talked about — the one who is out to win and doesn’t care about anybody else in those moments — to the polar opposite of that. For a lot of people, that’s just impossible.
A lot of times, I’m branded as the guy you see on the racetrack, but that’s not really who I am away from it at all. When people see me smile and laugh, they just look at it as, “Oh, he’s fake.” I hate that part, but I don’t change who I am because of it.
I understand why people would think that. When I watch other sports and see how certain people compete, I think, “Man, that guy seems like a real jerk.” Then you talk to them and realize, “Oh, he’s not a bad guy, it’s just how he competes.” That’s just what it is. But it’s hard for people to understand, and I can understand that.
5. What kind of passenger are you in an Uber, and how much do you care about your Uber rating?
I am not a passenger in Uber. I don’t like it. I don’t like getting into a car with a complete stranger. It’s nerve-wracking. I don’t know if this person can drive or not. I don’t know if this is some kind of killer.
So I don’t have an Uber rating. I don’t get in Uber cars. I drive. And car services? I don’t like those either. I get car sick, too.
But sometimes if they’re taking you to New York for some media thing, they’re putting you in a car service.
I don’t like it. Sometimes I gotta suck it up. Sometimes I gotta do that. But if I can rent the car, I’m 100 percent renting a car.
6. This is a hot “topic of the week” question. You are now one of 10 drivers to ever win three Cup titles. You’re one away from being among a group of five. Pretty elite company. How much do you allow yourself to dream about title number four, five, six or possibly seven at age 34?
I don’t. Good or bad, I have a habit of only looking at the hood pins. I don’t look far down the road. I think about tomorrow, then the next day. It’s not like I’m looking years or even months out.
Even with racing, I think about the Clash because that’s where we are right now (during this interview). Then I’ll think about Daytona. It’s the same way with my career when you’re thinking about legacy and post-career. (People ask,) “What are you going to do post-career?” I don’t know. I’m not there yet. So I don’t let my mind wander.
Like if you didn’t just tell me there were (nine) other drivers, I didn’t know that. It’s not that I don’t care. I hear that and I’m like, “That’s really cool, it’s really special.” But I’m just not ready to think about that stuff yet.
7. This is a wild-card question. For this year, I’m pulling a question from the first 15 years of the 12 Questions series and asking it again. In 2012, I asked you, “Who is a clean driver you enjoy racing with?” Back then, you said Tony Stewart. Who is it now?
I don’t have an issue with many of them right now. Only a couple. You naturally say your teammates because they race you the best. (Ryan) Blaney and I race each other really well — hard. We push the heck out of each other. But there are plenty of others I’d put on the list too.
More than not, it sounds like.
Yeah, more than not. Back when you asked me the first time, it was like nobody. (Laughs.) That’s when I was getting roughed up a lot. I don’t get roughed up as much anymore.
8. Other than a teammate, name a driver who you would be one of the first people to go congratulate in victory lane if they won a race.
Nobody.
Nobody?
This is where I have a hard time with drivers being friends with each other. If I were friends with someone, part of being a good friend is being happy for their success. And I’m not happy when someone kicks my butt. So does that make me a good friend? Does it make me a good friend to go out there and try to take food off their plate? Because that’s basically what you’re doing, right?
Someday when we’re retired, I could be friends with probably everybody. We all have so much in common and I could get past stuff. But I’m not happy to see anyone else win. Just being honest.
“I hear that and I’m like, ‘That’s really cool, it’s really special,” Joey Logano says of his place in history. “But I’m just not ready to think about that stuff yet.” (Chris Graythen / Getty Images)
9. How much do you use AI technology, whether in your job or your daily life?
I’m pretty far behind on the AI stuff. I don’t use it. Nothing. I’m sure there are forms of AI we use in our race team, but I’m not using ChatGPT or anything like that to write text messages for me. It’s me.
I’ve not completely bought into all this AI stuff. I feel like there’s a lot of bad that can go with it. I don’t want to fall into that trap. I’ll let someone else go first and see how things fall out.
10. What is a time in your life that was really challenging, but you look back now and feel proud of the way you responded to it?
Probably when I got let go from (Joe) Gibbs (Racing, at the end of 2012). I didn’t handle anything wrong when I left there. Everything was cordial and fine. I understood why, and it made it easier that I had this ride lined up at Penske. But that was the hardest point in my career — and probably my life, too.
11. What needs to happen in NASCAR to take the sport to the next level of popularity?
There’s the million-dollar question. That’s hard, because for every action, there’s a reaction. What one person thinks is great, someone else is not going to like it. We’ve seen that happen when you talk about the championship format — half the people love it, half the people want to change it, and the people who hate it are much louder than the people who like it.
In general, I think it’s important to keep going to new places. I’d personally want to have more horsepower. Is that going to make the racing that much better? Maybe. But is it going to be game-changing? No.
We need to reach the next generation and create more car culture. Kids these days don’t always rush to get their driver’s license at 16. Cars are not their No. 1 thing anymore. That used to be your freedom. There’s still a huge community for that, but if we can make kids love cars again, that’ll help all forms of motorsports.
12. Each week, I ask a driver to give me a question for the next person. Landon Cassill was the last interview of the 2024 season and he submitted this question for you: “What has your career in racing taught you that you use in the real world?”
The level of professionalism in racing is on another level. The majority of car dealerships, when you go in, do they look like a race shop? No. We could eat off of the floors in our race shop. We do things at such an elite level and we get used to that. That’s the expectation. Everything looks right and everything has to be perfect.
I built a house recently, and the builder told me, “Dude, you racers are the biggest pain in the butt for us.” Because we expect things to look perfect. But we should be. We shouldn’t come off of that. You shouldn’t just be OK with OK; you should be OK with great.
Accepting just OK is not going to be what we do. That (attitude) has worked, whether it’s our studio (Logano owns Clutch Studios, which hosts many production shoots) or other businesses I’m part of. Stuff has got to look right and we’ve got to act a certain way, too.
The next interview is with Chase Briscoe. Do you have a question I can ask him?
I want to ask him about his new team (Briscoe moved from Stewart-Haas Racing to Joe Gibbs Racing in the offseason). Everyone is going to ask him what Gibbs does better than Stewart-Haas. So I want to flip it: What does Stewart-Haas do better than Gibbs?
GO DEEPER
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(Top photo of Joey Logano: Sean Gardner / Getty Images)
