Joey Logano takes on iRacing
Joey Logano talks about Nascars removal of the Confederate flag, how he trains at home, and which Panini trading card his son likes. Be sure to pick up your own trading cards here. https://www.paniniamerica.net/cards/trading-cards/nascar.html
Video Transcript
JOEY LOGANO: I'll tell you right now, I'm not the best sim racer out there for sure. I've proved that plenty of times.
ZACH SCHWARTZ: What's up, guys? I'm Zach Schwartz, and I have the pleasure of being joined today by Joey Logano. Joey, thanks for taking the time to join us. What were your thoughts sort of surrounding NASCAR's handling of the Confederate flag stuff and how all of that kind of came about?
JOEY LOGANO: Yeah, obviously NASCAR stepped up in a big way when it comes to this movement that's going on right now. And, you know, I give them a lot of credit for that. It's a big challenge ahead of them, and I think they've done a great job. And, you know, with Bubba Wallace kind of leading the way of the whole movement from the NASCAR side of things. So kudos to Bubba for being, you know, more than just a race car driver, you know, and taking his platform to really make some change.
And I think the biggest thing is we want everyone to be welcome at the racetrack. We don't want anyone to feel uncomfortable because of your skin color. You know, whether you're white, black, anything in between, whatever you are, we want you to be at the racetrack and enjoy, you know, race cars going 200 miles an hour. That's the bottom line. That's what we all want everyone to be able to enjoy, and that's what we can control.
ZACH SCHWARTZ: If you weren't a race car driver, what would you be?
JOEY LOGANO: It's hard to say exactly at this point in my career what I would be, so I tell everyone that I have an RCD degree. You know, everyone has PhD or whatever, your doctorate. I have an RCD, and it stands for race car driver. And I feel like that holds value of some sort, at least to me. I don't know if it does to anybody else, but I like it.
ZACH SCHWARTZ: All right, tell us a little bit about this campaign you're doing with Panini and how this all came about.
JOEY LOGANO: Yeah, it's been a great relationship I've had with Panini here. The last few years has been a lot of fun and authentic to my brand, who I am, what I've enjoyed, and kind of just going back to when I first started to like racing and fall in love with it. I started trading cards, and as I was growing up, I continued that.
And now, today as an athlete in NASCAR, you're able to kind of see your own cards, right? And your competitors cards and the new things that come in. And now, my oldest little boy, he's two and a half, so he's just now starting to get into it a little bit, and it's fun to see him learn about the sport and learn about, you know, which driver's which and-- it always has a story and that goes along with it. And I think that's what it's about, you know? It's all about the culture and what it kind of brings together.
ZACH SCHWARTZ: Is it your card that he wants the most? Is it a competitor's card?
JOEY LOGANO: Right now, Dada's the coolest, so hopefully I stay cool. Hopefully it's not Kyle Busch someday, you know what I mean [LAUGHS]?
ZACH SCHWARTZ: Do you play any other games on here or just racing and kind of the sim stuff?
JOEY LOGANO: It something about when you have kids, the gaming stuff goes away pretty quickly [LAUGHS].
ZACH SCHWARTZ: I know. The simulator, I imagine, takes huge-- takes a lot of the bulk of those practice sessions you're not getting anymore, right?
JOEY LOGANO: Yeah, somewhat. And I'll tell you right now, I'm not the best sim racer out there for sure. I've proved that plenty of times, but it's what we have. And it's the only way that really race fans can kind of feel, you know, some of the sensations that we feel, you know? We might not have the same sensations of speed, and when you crash, like you just did, you know--
ZACH SCHWARTZ: [LAUGHS]
JOEY LOGANO: --it doesn't hurt [LAUGHS], you know? When you just hit reset. A lot cheaper, too [LAUGHS].
ZACH SCHWARTZ: Yeah. If you could race any non-NASCAR track in the world, where would it be?
JOEY LOGANO: I would really like to just run-- Yeah, you know, I guess Singapore and stuff like that that the F1 guys run under the lights. Like, that's just really, really cool looking, so I'd probably pick something like that.
ZACH SCHWARTZ: Before you go into a grueling kind of race like that, what do you have as far as for yourself to fuel up and get ready? What's sort of a pre-race kind of regimen for you?
JOEY LOGANO: How I kind of get in the zone is you kind of walk down Pit Road and you see your competitors, and you know, you kind of know what your plan is. And you kind of find yourself getting into this-- I don't know what kind of mode you want to call it, but it's just an area where you feel like, yeah, you're going to win today. You know, you're not going to go wrong, and that confidence is everything. That confidence means so much to be successful these days.
ZACH SCHWARTZ: Did you watch "The Last Dance"? The Michael--
JOEY LOGANO: Yeah, yeah.
ZACH SCHWARTZ: You're like little Michael Jordan, kind of walking around--
JOEY LOGANO: A little bit.
ZACH SCHWARTZ: --with a little bit of, like, oh, he thinks he's going to beat me today. Well, he's dead wrong about that. And then, were there any workouts you were doing or what was kind of the at home regimen for you to sort of stay in shape, be ready for racing when it did come back?
JOEY LOGANO: Been working out a lot outside. Been-- I don't if you got to see this-- some planet fitness work-ins. And I've been able to do a couple videos with them, and that's been fun as well. So, physically, keep my body ready, mentally being prepared as much as possible, as you can be with no practice that we have now, which is probably the most challenging piece. But, yeah, that's kind of the steps that we've been doing.
ZACH SCHWARTZ: All right, Joey, thank you again for joining us. Thank you to Panini for giving you-- allowing us to speak with you today. We love what they do, and thanks again for taking the time to be out here with me.
JOEY LOGANO: Yeah, man, no problem. Had fun, and hope you have a good one. Stay safe.