Joey Logano kind of felt like Dale Earnhardt Jr. on Saturday afternoon.
The three-time and defending NASCAR Cup Series champion is a polarizing figure. Maybe it’s because he is an unapologetic hard-nosed racer. Maybe it’s because he wins a lot. Maybe it’s because of how he wins.
Nevertheless, New Hampshire is his home track and Logano can always count on applause from this market above all others. So, upon capturing the pole for the Mobil 1 301, and being showered by cheers, Logano shouted and gave a fist pump.
It was kind of uncharacteristic for a pole.
“I like winning,” Logano said with a chuckle during a press conference afterwards. “That part hasn’t changed over the years. It’s hard. It’s honestly become harder over the years, just because the field is so close and I think part of the emotion is that we’re in New Hampshire. … The fans cheer me.
“It’s freaking cool. That doesn’t happen everywhere. Like, only here, so I love that. It’s a little bit more exciting when you’re able to win the pole when the whole grandstand is happy for you. That’s kind of neat.”
Joey Logano, Team Penske Ford
Photo by: Meg Oliphant / Getty Images
And sure, Logano has a healthy fanbase all across the country, but those that dislike him really dislike him and he cannot quite figure out why even if he’s content as long as they feel something.
“I dread the day they don’t say anything,” Logano said. “That’s the worst part.”
As long as they’re making noise, as Dale Earnhardt Sr. once put it, not that Logano understands why his detractors are so passionate.
“I don’t understand it because I don’t know why,” he said. “I wish I understood why a little bit more. I feel like I’m misunderstood a lot of times. I think the industry knows me really well and the kind of person I am. I don’t know if all the fans understand the kind of person I am or don’t understand how you can race one way and be happy all the other times. It doesn’t add up.”
Not focused on the haters
Logano is famously one of the nicest humans in the garage but is infamously one of the meanest drivers once he puts on the helmet. As a result, the perception is that Logano is two-faced.
“I guess that’s the only reason I can try to understand it,” Logano said. “I don’t understand it completely but there is a lot of 22 fans out there. As a society, we focus too much on the haters. We just do that in general and a lot of times it’s just louder than cheers, but when you look at whatever it is – sales in the merch haulers or if you just look in the grandstands, there’s a lot of yellow stuff out there.
“There’s a lot of Shell/Pennzoil stuff out there. Although we do talk about about the haters too much, there’s a lot of 22 fans out there and I’m happy to have every one of them. Like I said, though, it is neat when I do come to Loudon because I am representing, I feel like, everyone who lives around here. I feel like you’ve got to root for the hometown guy.”
And in this moment, he feels like Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2004.
“You’ve got to do cheer for the hometown guy and it’s fun to enjoy that piece of it,” Logano said. “It’s the only time I ever feel a little bit like Dale Jr. – just a little bit. It’s super cool. It’s really neat to be Dale Jr. I’ve learned.”
