Joey Logano in his Shell Pennzoil firesuit on pit road

Joey Logano: Three Championships, 38 Wins, and the Driver NASCAR Fans Argue About Most

July 30, 2026

Welcome to the Happy Hour Racing Driver Spotlight - where we pull one Cup Series driver into the garage, look under the hood at their career, and tell you what makes them tick. This week: the number 22.

Joey Logano in his Shell Pennzoil firesuit and cap on pit road before a NASCAR Cup Series race — Joey Logano, driver of the number 22 Team Penske Ford and a three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion. (Photo: Zach Catanzareti Photo, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

The Short Version

Joey Logano is a three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, the youngest race winner in the history of the sport, and one of the most divisive drivers in the garage. He has 38 wins, three titles, and a habit of showing up in the Championship 4 when nobody expects him. Fans either love the way he races or they cannot stand it. Either way, they watch him.

From Middletown to the Cup Series

Joey Logano was born on May 24, 1990, in Middletown, Connecticut, which is not exactly stock car country. He was fast enough early enough that it did not matter. Two-time Busch Series champion Randy LaJoie watched him race as a kid and called him the greatest thing since sliced bread. The nickname stuck, and Logano spent the next decade trying to live up to it.

He won the NASCAR Busch East Series title at 16. He became the youngest winner in Xfinity Series history at 18. Joe Gibbs Racing put him in the number 20 Cup car in 2009, and in June of that year at New Hampshire he won a Cup race at 19 years and 35 days old. That record still stands, and it is not close to falling.

The rest of his time at Gibbs did not go the way anyone drew it up. Four full seasons produced two wins and a career-worst 24th in points in 2011. He was out of the ride after 2012. Plenty of drivers do not come back from that.

The Penske Years and the Signature Moments

Team Penske signed him for 2013 and put him in the number 22 Ford. That was the turn. He won at Michigan that first season and made the playoffs for the first time. In 2015 he won the Daytona 500 at 24 years old. He has won a race in every single season since 2013, which is the kind of streak that separates good drivers from great ones.

Joey Logano number 22 Pennzoil Ford Mustang on the grid at Las Vegas Motor Speedway — The number 22 Pennzoil Ford on the grid at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, one of Logano's best tracks with four career wins. (Photo: Nascar9919, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

The moments fans remember most are the ones that made people mad. In the 2015 playoffs he turned Matt Kenseth to win at Kansas. Kenseth came back weeks later at Martinsville and wrecked him on purpose with under 50 laps to go, and got a two-race suspension for it. That feud is still the first thing a lot of fans bring up when you say his name.

Then there are the titles. He won his first in 2018, his second in 2022, and his third in 2024. Three championships puts him in company most drivers never get near. His most recent win came in July 2026 at North Wilkesboro, the first Cup points race at the old short track in 30 years, and he led 323 of the 450 laps to get it.

Welcome back North Wilkesboro.
— Team Penske (@Team_Penske) July 20, 2026

By the Numbers

Here is the career so far, laid out in the parts that matter. Every number below is a Cup Series career figure through the 2026 Brickyard 400.

Career figures are Cup Series totals through July 26, 2026. Sources: NASCAR and DriverAverages. Original Happy Hour Racing graphic.

Off the Track

Logano met his wife Brittany at his family's ice rink in North Carolina when they were teenagers. He drove the Zamboni. She was a competitive figure skater who worked the concession stand. They got engaged in 2013, married in 2014, and now have three kids: Hudson, Jameson, and Emilia. The family lives outside Charlotte.

He started the Joey Logano Foundation in 2013, and Brittany helps run it. The focus is kids and young adults in crisis, with a lot of the work aimed at the foster care system. Brittany's own mother was in foster care, so it is personal for them. The foundation says it has reached more than 250,000 kids and young adults.

Fun Stats

A few numbers that stick with you. He has won four times each at Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Talladega, which is a strange combination of tracks to be good at. He has six Championship 4 appearances and every single one came in an even-numbered year, as did all three of his titles. He has won the All-Star Race twice, in 2016 and 2024, and he won the first ever Clash at the Coliseum in 2022. His 323 laps led at North Wilkesboro this July were the most he has ever led in one race.

The Bottom Line

Joey Logano got written off once already, at 22 years old, and came back to win three championships. Fans can argue about how he races. Nobody can argue with the trophy case.