Joey Logano set for 600th NASCAR Cup start as the kid who became the champ

MOORESVILLE, N.C. —Dover Motor Speedway hasn’t always been the kindest to Joey Logano but that may make it the best track for him to make his 600th NASCAR Cup Series start.

Logano will make his 600th start in Sunday’s AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Dover, just five hours away from his hometown of Middletown, Connecticut. The accomplishment should easily supersede what he is otherwise known for at Dover.

While making his second Cup start at Dover in September 2009, the 19-year-old “kid,” as he was known at the time, spun sideways entering turn three. Logano spun back into traffic just right and began tumbling through the turn.

“In the middle of that wreck I was just hoping to get stopped and I wasn’t gonna be hurt and was gonna live another day because, to this day, it’s the longest crash I’ve ever been a part of. It just kept going and going and going,” Logano recalled Tuesday with a smile.

Now a 35-year-old veteran, Logano is reflecting on his growth since that 2009 tumble.

“I grew up in front of everybody. All of us change over the years as you grow up. Life comes at you and you evolve and keep going with it,” Logano said. “When you’re 18 years old to 35 years old… some of the biggest changes in your life happen in that period of time. Getting married, having [three] kids – that’s the biggest change you can ever have in your life, I think – but I did all of this in front of everybody.”

After Logano lost his ride in 2012, Team Penske – with guidance from defending champion Brad Keselowski – jolted his Cup career. He won in 2013 and made the Championship Four in 2014.

Then, as he traversed the 2015 playoffs as the championship favorite, millions of people watched in real-time as he learned one of his hardest lessons.

In the eyes of many fans and Matt Kenseth himself, the hungry kid in his second championship-contending season stole a chance away from the hungry veteran grasping to his final championship hopes.

As we all know, the veteran made his displeasure very well-known with the kid.

“Everybody went for the ride with me in ways, and not to mention the lessons learned on the racetrack and how I’ve changed as a race car driver, too, over that period of time, where I was a young, cocky kid coming in to getting my humble pie and learning how to become a champion and learning a lot of lessons in front of everybody,” Logano said.

Since then, Logano has had several November days he’ll remember much more fondly than that cloudy day at Martinsville Speedway. Logano claimed his third NASCAR Cup Series championship in November 2024 at Phoenix Raceway as he went to victory lane for the 36th time in his career. In 2025, he claimed win No. 37 at Texas Motor Speedway to earn his 12th playoff berth in 17 seasons.

“Am I proud of what we’ve accomplished? Absolutely, I just really felt like there would have been more because that’s what I expect out of myself,” Logano said.

It’s why Logano believes he isn’t even close to retiring, even at a point when many drivers consider stepping away.

 “My dream has always been to be a NASCAR driver, be a NASCAR champion and if I can win and be a help to my team, then I want to stick around,” Logano said. “I don’t want to stick around and be one of those guys where people say, ‘Man, he went a few years too long.’ You don’t want to be that guy. I think whenever that happens, that happens, I don’t know when that is. I would be an idiot to think you can be competing at the top level into your fifties. What athlete has ever done that? 

“Right now, I still feel as fresh as ever. I feel as sharp as ever. I’m driven as much as ever. I still care. I still get emotional about things, so that shows me I care a lot. With those factors still there, when the end is? I don’t know yet.”

At Dover, Logano’s best finish is third – in September 2010, September 2013 and October 2018. In 2024, he finished 16th, on the lead lap.

Maybe some milestone magic could lift his performance at Dover. After all, in his 300th Cup start at Richmond Raceway in April 2017, he won after racing perennial rival Matt Kenseth throughout the day.

“I remember my 300th start and I think it was Kenseth at the time… [who] wasn’t too far from 600 and I thought, ‘Geez, that’s double the amount of races as me. That’s crazy.’ But here I am, so it went by pretty quick,” Logano said.

Logano has a 10th-place finish to beat Kenseth’s result in his 600th start – at Watkins Glen International in August 2016.

No matter how the weekend goes or if he wins, Logano’s 600th start is a victory lap for the kid who became a champ.

The highest a driver has finished in their 600th start is third-place, twice:

• Darrell Waltrip, Atlanta Motor Speedway, March 1994
• Jeff Gordon, Chicagoland Speedway, July 2010

Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.

A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.

Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick’s final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen’s stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers’ stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.

Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com