"We struck gold": When Tony Stewart saw star potential in Joey Logano during his rise as a young NASCAR prospect

Former NASCAR driver Tony Stewart was full of praise for then-up-and-comer Joey Logano when he was making his way through the stock-car racing series. Stewart, speaking about Logano's ability as a driver before he even made his debut in the Xfinity Series, explained how the young driver was more intelligent than some of his peers.

In 2007, Logano was 17-years-old and had just won the ARCA Menards East Series, which was known as the NASCAR Busch East Series when the young driver took home the title. Two-time Cup Series champion, Stewart, spoke about Logano's potential in a piece from The New York Times in October 2007.

“We struck gold. That kid’s got it. He’s smarter than some of the guys we’ve got in this series right now.”

Logano's ARCA Menards East Series title win was the first time a rookie had won the title since the series began in 1989. The following year, after his 18th birthday in May, he would make his debut racing in the Busch (now Xfinity) Series for Joe Gibbs Racing, Stewart's team. Three starts into the second-tier of the national stock car-racing competition, Logano would score his first win in the series after starting from pole at the Kentucky Speedway. The 18-year-old would continue racing part-time at the Xfinity-level until 2024, having a varied number of starts throughout his career.

In 2009, the Menards East Series title-winner would join JGR at the Cup Series level, taking over Tony Stewart's #20 car after the (then) 38-year-old driver would move to Stewart-Haas Racing, becoming co-owner and driver the same year. With JGR, Logano would score two wins, 16 top-five finishes, and 41 Top 10s.

The 2013 season would be Joey Logano's first season with Team Penske. He has scored all three of his Cup Series titles with the team, along with 34 wins, 151 top-fives, and 246 top 10 finishes.

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Joey Logano paid tribute to previous Cup Series Champions

Joey Logano during the NASCAR Awards Banquet - Source: Imagn

Speaking to the media last year before he accepted the trophy at the awards ceremony in November, Joey Logano talked about the drivers who came before him who acted as leaders of the sport. He was referring to former champions, which includes Tony Stewart, with whom the Team Penske driver tied with for total number of titles won last year.

Logano also spoke about what it means to be a champion who has the responsibility to grow the sport like the drivers before him for future generations.

“I’m only like that because other drivers were like that for me. And to me, that’s what a true champion is, is somebody that understands that we are here because of the people before us — the media members before you guys, the other drivers before me, the crew chiefs before those crew chiefs, owners before them. All those legends grew the industry that we all reap the benefits of today. But if we don’t do the same thing for the next generation, then our sport will die. That makes me really sad to think that’s even possible, but it is. You can’t just get comfortable and expect everything to keep going the way it is. You’ve got to keep working at it." [via NASCAR]

Joey Logano goes into this year, his 13th season with Team Penske, as the defending champion once the season begins with the first race at the Bowman Gray Stadium on February 2nd.