"You need to call Roger Penske" - When Joey Logano reflected on Brad Keselowski's role in securing his ride at Team Penske

Joey Logano once recalled when Brad Keselowski asked Team Penske to sign him for a full-time seat. Logano was told by Keselowski to call team owner Roger Penske for a big announcement, which we know today as the offer to drive the No. 22 Ford.

Logano was with Joe Gibbs Racing when he debuted in the NASCAR Cup Series as a full-time driver in 2009. He was dropped by JGR in 2012 before Team Penske signed him in the same year and teamed him up with Brad Keselowski.

In an interview with Graham Bensinger in 2023, Joey Logano was asked about his relationship with Keselowski and how his former teammate influenced Team Penske to get him onboard. The now-34-year-old driver first shared about the moment Keselowski flipped him off during his first race in the Xfinity Series.

“Brad’s a friend of mine. This is kind of funny, our relationship. My first Xfinity race was in Dover. I was supposed to be the hot shoe coming in,” Logano said. “I jumped out there, my first run, my first practice, I roll out, and I roll out right in front of Brad, just chopped him off. I didn’t mean to. He flips me off down the back straight before I get out of third gear, and I’m like, ‘alright, this is how it’s going to go.’” [2:46]

In 2012, the Connecticut native was instructed by Keselowski before a race to give Roger Penske a call the next Monday.

“He [Brad Keselowski] was the first person to call me. He said, ‘I can’t tell you what’s happening but it’s big. And you need to call Roger [on] Monday morning.’” [3:51]

Joey Logano added:

“I was the one he [Brad Keselowski] chose to drive the car over there. He wanted me as a teammate.” [4:10]

When Bensinger asked the driver why Keselowski chose him, he believed they had a lot of similarities and they could play off each other well.

Joey Logano won his first NASCAR Cup Series championship in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford in 2018 with Brad Keselowski as his teammate. But before his second championship-winning season in 2022, Keselowski had moved to RFK Racing as a co-owner and full-time driver.

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Joey Logano was called “spoons” by Tony Stewart

Brad Keselowski in the No. 2 Ford trailed by Joey Logano in 2021 - Source: Imagn

In the same interview with Graham Bensinger, Joey Logano opened up about his relationship with three-time Cup Series champion Tony Stewart. He said that Stewart nicknamed him “spoons” for having a silver spoon in his mouth growing up.

Logano shared:

“Yeah, he called me silver spoon, right? And so he just called me spoons forever. He texted me the other day and said, ‘hey spoons.’” [1:38]

The driver clapped back by telling Bensinger that Tony Stewart would give his children a silver spoon too.

“Hey listen, when Tony Stewart has a kid, guess what, he gets silver spoon, right? Sorry. Tony made a lot of money driving a race car,” he said. [1:49]

Tony Stewart is expecting his first child in November with his wife Leah Pruett. He is currently taking over Pruett’s 11,000-horsepower TSR Dodge//SRT Direct Connection Top Fuel Dragster in the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) while his wife deals with her pregnancy.