"I don't like this guy, was my reaction" - Joey Logano once recalled tense beginnings with Tony Stewart before finding common ground

Joey Logano once recounted an early interaction with Tony Stewart that left him disheartened. As a kid, Logano looked up to Stewart as an idol; however, his first encounter with the NASCAR legend didn't go well.

Narrating a childhood episode on NASCAR Untold Stories last year, Logano revealed that he was a Stewart fan growing up. During a visit to Atlanta Motor Speedway, he had the opportunity to meet Stewart, only to be snubbed by the three-time Cup champion.

Logano elaborated that he was standing between the garage and the bus lot, eagerly awaiting Stewart's arrival for an autograph. When Stewart finally showed up, Logano's request to sign his hat got ignored as Stewart walked past. Getting snubbed by his favorite driver left Logano furious, and he threw his hat in the trash can.

Reflecting on the incident, the #22 Team Penske driver acknowledged that Stewart might have had a bad day on that particular occasion. He said,

"I have a Tony Stewart hat and stuff, I was a Tony Stewart fan and I want to get his autograph. I want to meet Tony Stewart. He must have had a bad day or something, because now knowing Tony, this isn't who he is, but Tony's emotional person as well, I've learned that about him too. And probably something wasn't going his way that day."

"Tony just walked right by us, I yelled, 'Hey Tony, here sign my hat.' He didn't even look at me, just bee-lined right," Logano added, "Screw this guy, that was my reaction, I don't like this guy, that was my reaction. So I took all my stuff and I threw it in the garbage when I got home," he added.

This interaction, unbeknownst to Tony Stewart, marked the tense beginnings of their relationship. When Joey Logano graduated to the Cup Series, he found himself in a rivalry with Stewart.

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Joey Logano reflects on replacing Tony Stewart at Joe Gibbs Racing

Following Tony Stewart's exit from Joe Gibbs Racing in 2008, Joey Logano, who was then nicknamed the "greatest thing since sliced bread," was called upon to take over the #20 Toyota. Logano made his full-time Cup Series debut the following season.

Speaking about the twists of fate that put him in Stewart's car for his Cup Series debut, the two-time NASCAR Cup champion said:

"Like the irony of then driving the #20 car, fast forward 10 years later. I'm driving the car that he's leaving with pretty much the same team he had. I'd take over his car and people are talking about how I'm gonna fill his shoes in his race car and all this stuff. Fast forward a couple years later, we're fighting on pit road together."

Despite sharing a heated rivalry with Stewart during his early years in the Cup Series, Logano added that they get along fine now. Logano is a two-time Cup champion, one title short of equaling his childhood idol Stewart's tally.