March 3, 2009
By Allen Madding
Before being moved into a full-time ride in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for 2009, Joey Logano made 19 starts in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, running a part-time schedule, one start in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, and three starts in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in 2008.
In the Nationwide Series, Logano captured four poles, one win, five top fives, and 14 top tens in his 19 starts. However, his experience in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series during 2008 did not go quite as well making five attempts, failing to qualify for two races and then failed to record a finish higher than 32nd.
His one start in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series during 2008 netted a 26th finish at Talladega.
Since launching his rookie career in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for the 2009 season, Logano has crashed a car in practice sessions for all three events. Logano’s best finish so far in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is a 13th place finish this weekend at Las Vegas.
Things have gone a bit better for Logano in the NASCAR Nationwide Series in 2009 charting a third place finish at Fontana. Logano was entered in the ARCA Re/Max Series at Daytona to get him some extra seat time in preparation for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Daytona 500.
With the support of a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team behind him, many thought it would be like shooting fish in a barrel competing against ARCA Re/Max Series competitors with significantly limited funding. But Logano finished second in the event to 18-year-old, James Buescher who won his first ARCA event at age 16.
Many had high expectations for Logano when it was announced he would replace Tony Stewart in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Home Depot Toyota. While some of the veterans in the garage noted that Gibbs would be wise to have a good bit of money budgeted for replacing racecars for the young rookie during 2009.
So far, it seems the wisdom of the veterans is bearing out.
Was Logano moved up into NASCAR’s premier division too soon? Would he have been better served to run a full season in the Nationwide Series before jumping into the deep end of the pool? Many would say yes and perhaps Joe Gibbs budget would not be taking such a hard hit early on in the year.
When Verizon Wireless purchased Alltel, the company had itself a quandary. They had an existing contract to sponsor the Penske No. 12 Dodge in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. But, NASCAR had an agreement with Sprint to not allow any non-participating wireless carriers to enter the Sprint Cup Series as sponsors. So, Verizon could not be on the hood of the No. 12 Dodge in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Penske and Verizon elected to campaign a No. 12 in the NASCAR Nationwide Series with full Verizon decals on the quarter panels, hood, etc.
The Penske No. 12 Dodge would be painted the same for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competition with Penske Racing decals. Verizon then purchased advertising with the television networks carrying the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and used the Penske No. 12 Verizon Dodge from the Nationwide Series in all of the commercials.
With Penske now having a full-time ride in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, it gave the team an opportunity to bring a rookie into the series and give them ample opportunity to make the adjustment to NASCAR racing and the variety of tracks on the schedule before moving them up to NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competition.
Penske selected the 2008 ARCA Re/Max Series Champion, 22-year-old Justin Allgaier. Allgaier made four starts for the team in the NASCAR Nationwide Series in 2008 recording an 11th place finish at Phoenix. Allgaier showed good composure during Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series Sam's Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway riding in the top five for the majority of the race before finishing eighth. Perhaps Penske has the best approach running a rookie in the Nationwide Series for a full season before making the big jump to the show.
Time will certainly tell.
The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.
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