Are NASCAR drivers athletes? This is the question that gets thrown at the drivers who are soaked in firesuits, racing in treacherous heat in Arizona or Vegas. That too, without any breaks. Imagine doing this for almost nine months of the year on every weekend, tackling different weather and racing conditions. Joey Logano, who’s seen it all, doesn’t appreciate when such questions come up. “Yeah, the fact that they even ask us is a bit ridiculous in my opinion, It’s how you want to define an athlete, right?”
If anything, the 3-time Cup Series champion feels that to excel in NASCAR, they are always stacked up against the odds. The probability of being successful on the racetrack is slim, especially in the era of parity racing. And the mere idea or thought of that can put down a good driver from achieving their objectives. Although Logano doesn’t necessarily see eye-to-eye with Denny Hamlin, he agreed with his rival’s assessment, sharing his honest take about being successful in NASCAR.
The uphill climb to be successful in NASCAR
“Winning the Cup Series is like winning in golf. I feel like the win rate is about the same. If you’re killing it, you’re winning six percent of the time, it’s just so hard,” Hamlin shared this on Netflix’s Full Speed docuseries. The veteran JGR driver has over 700 Cup Series races under his belt, yet he has won only 57 times. Yet he is 11th in the all-time wins list; only Kyle Busch, the only active driver, is in the top 10 list with 63 Cup wins. It goes to show how ultra-competitive the sport is, and even for star drivers with the best possible equipment, the odds of winning aren’t great.
Now, Joey Logano might have won three championships, but as far as winning races go, he is 23rd on the all-time win list, with 37 victory lane visits. And he laid it bare how mentally straining it is for top guys to be focused and strive for that win on Sundays. “The mental game’s the hardest part. It’s kind of like that in every sport is, and probably what’s tougher, though, in NASCAR, in my opinion, I’m not playing other sports, so I can’t really say for sure, but we don’t have a 50-50 chance of winning, right? It’s not one v one. Like we are going up against, you know, 39 other teams. So we race 38 times a year. A great season’s like five wins. You lost 31 times.”
In the Next Gen era from 2022, Logano has been very calculated with his approach, playing his cards right and bagging wins at crucial junctures of the season. In almost 124 starts, the driver of the #22 car has only been to victory lane ten times, and in return, he has bagged two championships. He might be successful with the end results, but the grind to make it through the regular season and then deliver in the playoffs is taxing for the drivers, Hamlin would know about it.
However, Logano’s performance in 2025 goes to show how difficult it is to win in the modern era. Gone are the days where drivers used to have a streak of wins and rack up points. Thanks to his win in Texas, the Penske driver has secured his place in the playoffs, but apart from that, he has only registered two top 10 finishes and a top 5 result. Not the ideal approach, but it does the job in the regular season.
However, Logano feels new NASCAR partners are doing a good job in bringing out the story lines, the struggles and the triumphs of a NASCAR driver through documentaries and projects. The big hit this season has been the Earnhardt docuseries by Amazon Prime Video.
Logano is all in for a good storytelling project highlighting NASCAR drivers
NASCAR is well past its heyday is the phrase you will hear a lot. There was a time when the likes of Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, and Darrell Waltrip ruled the ovals, not just on the track, but beyond it as well. Although Logano is a 3-time Cup Series champ, he isn’t seen as the poster child of the sport and for some reason, NASCAR drivers have lost that allure of being part of the popular culture. And some is it is because the modern day drivers are in isolation and haven’t reached out to the new fans. But that trend seems to be changing with Netflix and Prime Video embarking on their projects.
Sharing his take on the new trend, Logano, while speaking on Whiskey Riff, added, “It’s good storytelling. I mean, that’s such a big piece of it. Whether it’s country music or sports, from what it looks like from the outside, it’s so simple. Oh, you just drive and you turn left, how hard can it be? But when you’re doing at a top level, there’s just so much that goes into it to be the best. And that’s when the storytelling matters.”
Well, Logano is certainly scripting his own story this year. With the playoff berth sealed, he will look to plan out his path through the knockout stages and have a shot at his fourth championship title. This would draw him level with Jeff Gordon.
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