“I waited a week with my fingers crossed” - $6.7B worth Roger Penske reveals how he signed Joey Logano from JGR

Joey Logano has had one of NASCAR's most successful careers, but most of it couldn't have happened if it weren't for Roger Penske's decision to sign him after he left Joe Gibbs Racing in 2013. After that, the Connecticut-born has logged three Cup Series championships (2018, 2022, and 2024), one Daytona 500, and two All-Star races (2016 and 2024).

Roger Penske, for his part, was briefly a race car driver himself and even won the SCCA Driver of the Year in 1961. He competed in two F1 GPs and won a NASCAR race in 1963. But Penske's true success came as a businessman and racing team owner. His teams spread far and wide over the motorsports world, and have won almost every race and championship that ever existed (with the possible exception of F1, in which he only competed for 3 seasons and logged only one win).

This week, before the Great American Race, Kevin Harvick interviewed them both for FOX and asked them about their relationship and the signing of the contract, more than a decade ago now. Team Penske owner said Joe Gibbs (owner of Joe Gibbs Racing) made him wait a week in order to finalize the deal, and that he waited through that week with his fingers crossed.

"I had to wait in order to hire him because Joe Gibbs said 'Look, I'm going to maybe get him a cup, right? Will you wait a week?', well I waited a week with my fingers crossed. There was no question. He gets it," Team Penske's owner said to Kevin Harvick.

The $6.7B team owner then remembered how Joey Logano became the leader of the team when Brad Keselowski left.

"When Brad (Keselowski) left, Joey came to me and said 'I want to be the leader of this team', that gave us a direction. A direction that's been, obviously, a gangbuster for us, and the results show for themselves," Roger Penske said about Joey Logano in the interview for FOX.

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Joey Logano positioned himself right for the Daytona 500

The 2024 champion Joey Logano will start the title defense on Sunday, February 16, in Daytona Beach, Florida. Having started in row 1, position 2 in Duel qualifier 2, he finished in P5, with which he secured the 10th grid position for Sunday's main event.

Back in 2015, when he won the race, he started in a similar P15 and struggled all the way through to the top. this time around, with ten additional years worth of experience, he'll try and emulate that performance and lift the Harley J. Earl Trophy once more.

Interestingly enough, Kevin Harvick finished P2 after Joey Logano that day in 2015. Dale Earnhardt Jr., Denny Hamlin, and Jimmie Johnson completed the Top-5.