USAR: Lakeland: Joey Logano preview

Joey Logano Makes Switch to Pro Cup South
15-Year-Old Joe Gibbs Racing Development Driver Starts Season at Lakeland This Weekend

MOORESVILLE, NC (February 22, 2006) -- Last season, 15-year-old Joey Logano took the USAR Pro Cup Northern Division by storm. He won at Mansfield Motorsports Park (OH) in only his second series start and backed that up with a total of seven top-five finishes in an abbreviated schedule of racing.

In 2006, the Joe Gibbs Racing development driver is hoping to storm the Southern Division of the Pro Cup Series with the same results. He will compete full-time in that series this year.

"Last year we ran in the North because we had to wait for my birthday [on May 24th]. I couldn't race before I turned 15 and with the way the schedules were, we could run more races if we ran up North. This year we'll be racing in the Southern Division. We'll be closer to the tracks and things are a lot better that way."

Learning those new tracks will be Logano's biggest challenge, but he's up to the test.

"It will be different tracks mostly," said Logano. "I think that the competition is going to be about the same. It might be a little bit tougher because there are some new people in the Southern Tour this year, but there is good competition in both places."

There won't be too many new faces for Logano to learn to race against. He took part in the five-race Championship Series for Pro Cup last fall and competed against the best drivers from both tours.

"We ran the championship races, so I've raced against a lot of the competitors. There are some pretty good drivers in the North and South. It's a good group of people to race against."

Logano's season will start this weekend at USA International Speedway in Lakeland, Florida. He raced there twice last season with a best finish of second.

"I like the track," Logano said of Lakeland. "There is good banking and it's a good track to race on. There's lots of room. We went down there and tested a couple of weeks ago and I think that we are pretty good. It's the best car that I've had there. We're trying some new things and they seem to be working. I think that we'll be pretty good.

"We're going to try and get a good top-five finish our first time out there this year. We want to make sure that the whole team gels well. We've got a couple new people and we want to make sure everyone starts off working well together."

The Naturally Fresh 250 presented by Racing Electronics at USA International Speedway will take place this Saturday, February 25th, at 7:30pm ET. It will be televised Wednesday, March 1st, at 5pm ET on SPEED.

-joeyloganoracing.com.