INDIANAPOLIS — Throughout his career as a Team Penske NASCAR Cup Series driver, Joey Logano has gotten to become friends with some of the drivers over on the IndyCar Series team.
Until this year, one of those drivers was Helio Castroneves, who at the time was a three-time Indianapolis 500 winner and a mainstay of team owner Roger Penske’s IndyCar lineup.
After 20 years together, Castroneves and Team Penske split with the driver signing a six-race deal with Meyer-Shank Racing including the 105th Indianapolis.
Ironically, it was in that race on May 30 of this year that Castroneves finally scored his elusive fourth Indy 500 win.
Although Logano and Castroneves are now on different teams, Logano admitted that when he watched Castroneves drive to the emotional victory, and the outpouring of love and emotions that followed, he teared up himself.
“I was pretty excited about it,” Logano said. “I honestly teared up a little watching it in my bus before the Coca-Cola 600. I was so excited for him.
“You just never know where God leads you sometimes. Who would have thought that would happen?
“Obviously, Helio and I have been able to build somewhat of a relationship as teammates at Penske. He is the most likable person you have probably ever met. I don’t think anyone dislikes Helio. I don’t think you can. That was shown when you saw everybody happy for him. There are not many times somebody wins, and other competitors are happy to see you win. That is just unheard of. There are not many people that I would be happy to see win that I am competing against in a race.
“To see the line of competitors that were happy to see him win was really cool. I think everybody was rooting for him. He was the crowd favorite. He has been around forever and is a legend.”
The only time that Logano can remember a competitor congratulating him after a big win or championship came from Cole Pearn, the former crew chief for Martin Truex Jr., after Logano won the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series championship.
“That was very surprising,” Logano recalled. “It was pretty cool. It was on the stage that night, I remember it.”
Logano drives for Team Penske and his team owner, Roger Penske, is in his second year of ownership at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
With the fans back for this week’s Brickyard Weekend, Logano was asked how surreal it was to think that he drives for the man that actually owns this place?
“It is probably surreal for him,” Logano said. “When I was sitting up there on top of the Pagoda yesterday with him watching IndyCar practice, of course it goes through your mind. Can you imagine owning this place and being able to say, ‘All of this is mine.’ It is crazy to think that.
“He has done great things with it already. You look at the facilities. It is the prettiest racetrack we go to. I was laughing because someone went through the grass in Xfinity practice and I thought, ‘He is going to be angry.’ They messed up his lines. Someone is going to have to go out and mow the grass tonight.”
Sunday’s Pennzoil 200 at the Brickyard will be the first time the NASCAR Cup Series competes on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Although some drivers believe it’s a change worth trying to add a little excitement to what had become an otherwise lackluster event when it was held on the oval.
“I just want to race at Indy — I don’t care,” Logano said. “I do think the road course will put on a better race for everybody. We talked for years about the oval race and how we wanted it to be better. We tried plenty of things to try to make it better and then we watched that Xfinity race and all you had to do was watch that one time to say, ‘Let’s give that a shot.’”