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“I Might Be the Only Guy” – Joey Logano Believes Jeff Gordon’s Ironman Record Is Within His Grasp

Published 02/16/2024, 4:54 PM EST

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Joey Logano has already snagged a win in the 2024 season, of sorts. The qualifying for the Daytona 500 saw Logano and Michael McDowell sweep the front row. Logano, who was the 2015 Daytona 500 winner, turned a lap of 181.947 mph and won his first pole since Atlanta last year. However, the two-time Cup Series champion is not satisfied with the stunning stats in his career.

Logano plans to follow in the footsteps of NASCAR veteran Jeff Gordon. Gordon has an insane record that is hard to match. He ranks third on NASCAR’s all-time wins list and has won a whopping 93 races. But the achievement that affords him a place nowhere below the stars is his consecutive Cup race starts.

Joey Logano hopes to break Jeff Gordon’s record

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Legendary sports people always raise the bar after achieving something. The same goes for NASCAR drivers. Joey Logano is among them and is aiming for the next big victory. In a recent interview with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Logano was dewy-eyed when he talked about Jeff Gordon’s record.

“He didn’t get thrown out for anything. He didn’t get sick, he didn’t get hurt. That’s really impressive…in his whole career, he wasn’t in the safest cars. I feel that record is not talked about a lot.”

Jeff Gordon started 797 Cup races in a row, starting from his NASCAR debut in 1992 to his last event in 2015. That is how he snatched the ‘Iron Man’ nickname from Ricky Rudd’s prior record of 788 consecutive Cup race starts. He took the lead in the consecutive category at Loudon, New Hampshire, on September 27, 2015.

Logano talked about how he may catch up to Gordon’s record soon. “For one, no one’s even close. Even I’m like long long ways away. I might be the only guy that can actually get to it though.”

 

After Gordon, only two drivers stand in the way of Logano to grab that coveted record. They are Kevin Harvick with 784 starts and Martin Truex Jr. with 648 starts. But those contenders do not seem to be great threats as Harvick retired in 2023 and Truex is planning on hanging up his boots.

Read More: 2024 Daytona 500 Qualifying: Watch Joey Logano’s Full Throttle Pole Winning Lap, Edging Past Michael Mcdowell

Logano made a total of 540 successive starts since February 19, 2009. The 33-year-old will have to keep racing till 2031 to beat Gordon’s record. The chances, though slim, may be strong for Logano, considering he has already forayed into NASCAR’s greatest.

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Logano is living in the clouds of NASCAR

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Joey Logano may be aiming for the stars, but his fans already acknowledge him as a motorsport legend. Early in 2023, he had been incorporated into NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers list. That list includes all-time legends like Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, and more. This list was first introduced in 1998 with 50 drivers. The number was raised to 75 in 2023 on the 75th anniversary of NASCAR.

Logano wasted absolutely no time in carving out a path of glory. His debutant year in 2013 saw one victory, two pole positions, and 12 top-10 finishes. After that, the sky was his limit. He has two Cup championships (2018 and 2022) and the coveted Harley J. Earl trophy (2015 Daytona 500) stuffed in his cabinet of awards.

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Only time will tell if Joey Logano will keep mesmerizing us with more victories in 2024.

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Written by:

Sumedha Mukherjee

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Sumedha Mukherjee is a NASCAR Writer at EssentiallySports who is known for her in-depth track analysis as well as her lifestyle coverage of Cup drivers like Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick. Inspired by the Kiwi's journey so far, Sumedha has also written pieces on Shane Van Gisbergen, predicting how the Supercars Champion would do in the new and unfamiliar American setting. Pairing her research skills with her vast experience as a writer, Sumedha creates stories her readers can easily get lost in.
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Edited by:

Ranvijay Singh