Is Joey Logano Italian? NASCAR star sets the record straight on his ethnicity
Two-time NASCAR Cup Series winner Joey Logano has revealed his ethnic background. The Middletown, Connecticut native competes in the NASCAR Cup Series for Team Penske, driving the No. 22 Ford Mustang Dark Horse.
He also races part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series with AM Racing’s No. 15 Ford Mustang. The 34-year-old had won the NASCAR Cup Series championships in 2018 and 2022.
In a video, where NASCAR playoff drivers answered the internet's most searched questions, Logano confirmed his Italian heritage.
"That’s when the first thing comes up? Well, yes, I am left-handed. Yes, I am. I turn left for a living too; it just works out. ... I’m an Italian left-handed male. That’s who I am," Logano said.
Joey Logano's Italian heritage comes from his father, who's of Italian descent. Last year, he even put on an Italian accent in a video promoting his sponsor Hunt Brothers Pizza.
Joey Logano won the 2024 Cup Series playoff race at Atlanta and earned his spot in the Round of 12.
"Now the bumpers are bulldozers" - Joey Logano on toughness of Next Gen cars
Joey Logano addressed the growing trend among NASCAR drivers to be aggressive and not feel bad about shoving other cars.
Talking at the SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, he noted that Next Gen cars are designed to be fair for all drivers, but switching from steel to carbon fiber make the cars tougher. That lets them take bigger hits without sustaining much damage.
"It's changed because of the car...The car accepts so much contact like leaning on each other is something that is just part of the game. And when you’re going down into Turn 1 and you have cars that are tougher now. The bumpers are stronger than they were," Logano said.
Logano also compared the cars to go-kart racing, where cars have big bumpers:
"Now the bumpers are bulldozers. When you go to your local little go-kart track and they got the big bumpers all the way around it, what ends up happening? You guys clobber each other. We have cars like that now; we have cars that are just tough."
Martin Truex Jr also slammed the “ridiculous” racing after the Go Bowling at Watkins Glen International on Sunday.
He was especially critical of Kyle Larson for being aggressive during the restarts. Denny Hamlin supported Truex's comments on his podcast Actions Detrimental and expressed concern about the growing lack of respect among drivers.