Logano Breakfast Sold Out

From the Middlesex Chamber of Commerce

the Chamber Member Breakfast with NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Driver and Middletown native Joey Logano will take place on Monday, January 11, 2010 from 7:45 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. at the Crowne Plaza Cromwell hotel. The breakfast is sponsored by Webster Bank.

Joey Logano looks to take another step forward in 2010 after a breakout rookie season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS). The 2009 season was a record-breaking year for the driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota. Not only did Logano become the youngest Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year in the 55-year history of the award, but also the youngest Sprint Cup winner in series history at 19 years, one month and four days. His victory in the Sprint Cup race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway continued the winning tradition of The Home Depot Team that has won a race every year since its inception in 1999.

Logano’s road to Joe Gibbs Racing and the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota began when he was just 6 years old and began competing in Quarter-Midgets throughout the Northeast. At the tender age of 7, he captured the 1997 Eastern Grand National Championship in the Junior Stock Car Quarter Midget division. As he continued through the Quarter-Midget ranks, he followed up his first title with Eastern Grand National Championships in 1998 and 1999.

In the middle of 1999, the Logano family moved from Connecticut to an Atlanta suburb where he began racing Bandoleros Bandits and became the National Bandoleros Bandits Champion. Logano also became the youngest driver to compete in a Legends car when he made a start in a Legends car at nine years of age. The following year he captured the Bandoleros division championships at Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.

From there it was onto Legend cars full time, where a 12-year-old Logano set a track record of 14 consecutive wins at Atlanta Motor Speedway, along with winning the Young Lions National championship in 2002. Logano also won the Pro National championship that year, making him the youngest champion in Legends history.

Logano followed up the 2002 titles by transitioning into the Georgia Late Model Series and Southern All-Star Series. In 2004 he competed in the American Speed Association (ASA) Late Model Series where he earned five top-five and eight top-10 finishes.

Logano’s racing career kicked into high gear in 2005 when he was signed as a development driver by the legendary Joe Gibbs Racing. As part of that development program, Logano started competing in the USAR Hooter’s Pro Cup Series. The youngster made his debut in the series just four days after his 15^th birthday and earned his first Pro Cup Series victory on June 11 at Mansfield (Ohio) Motorsports Park. In 14 starts in the series that year, Logano tallied one win, six top-five and seven top-10 finishes, leading respected NASCAR veteran Mark Martin to call Logano the “real deal” at just 15 years of age.

The young talent competed in the Pro Cup Series in 2006, scoring another two wins before beginning his NASCAR career in 2007. Logano visited victory lane in his Joe Gibbs Racing debut in the NASCAR Camping World Series West race at Phoenix (Ariz.) International Raceway on April 19. He then won the NASCAR Camping World East Series season-opener on April 28 en route to the NASCAR Camping World Series East Championship as a rookie with five wins, two poles, 10 top-five and 10 top-10 finishes in just 14 starts. Logano won a total of seven races at six different tracks in 2007: twice at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and once each at Greenville-Pickens (S.C.) Speedway, Iowa Speedway, Adirondack (N.Y.) International Speedway, Phoenix and at the Toyota All-Star Showdown at Irwindale (Calif.) Speedway on Oct. 20.

The 2008 season was a year of NASCAR firsts for Logano. Not only was he part of the four-driver team to capture the 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series Owner’s Championship in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, but he made his NASCAR Sprint Cup debut at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in the No. 96 Home Depot Toyota on Sept. 14.

Having to wait to make his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut until he turned 18 in May, Logano kept busy by competing in a variety of events including the ARCA RE/MAX Series event at Rockingham (N.C.) Speedway on May 4. In his first start in the ARCA Series he started from the pole and went on to lead the Carolina 500 five times for a race-high 257 laps on his way to victory lane.

Less than two weeks after turning 18 in May, Logano made his Nationwide Series debut at Dover (Del.) International Speedway and earned his first pole in only his second-career start at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway in June. His third start in the Nationwide Series would be one for the record books. Logano captured the pole at Kentucky Speedway on his way to becoming the youngest winner in Nationwide Series history at 18 years and 21 days on June 14. He would compete in a total of 19 Nationwide Series events – 18 races in the No. 20 and one in the No. 18 Toyotas - earning one win, three poles and 14 top-10 finishes. Logano, along with Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch secured the car owner’s championship for the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Team.

After making his Sprint Cup Series debut in Loudon, N.H., Logano made additional Sprint Cup starts at Kansas Speedway in September and Texas Motor Speedway in November – all in preparation for the 2009 season.

In his first year behind the wheel of The Home Depot Toyota, Logano earned three top-five and seven top-10 finishes in 2009 while leading laps at notoriously difficult tracks like Darlington Raceway, Talladega Superspeedway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The victory in Loudon was especially sweet for Logano; it was the track where he watched his first Sprint Cup race, made his debut in The Home Depot Toyota and captured his first series victory. Logano had several other highlights in 2009 including winning the Sprint Fan Vote into the All-Star event at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May, a top-20 finish in the Sprint Cup Series standings and five victories in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

Embarking on his sophomore season in the series, Logano, with the backing of veteran crew chief Greg Zipadelli, Joe Gibbs Racing and the entire No. 20 Home Depot Team, looks to build on the successes of 2009 and make a run at the 2010 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.