Low-key Logano doesn’t like to party

One of Joey Logano’s Nationwide Series sponsors is GameStop, the video game selling store. If you ran into Logano on the street you probably wouldn’t mistake him for a college athlete, or someone who enjoys running around outdoors.

You probably also wouldn’t peg him as much of a partier. Logano turned 21 years old last Wednesday (Read the blog here: http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/05/happy-21st-birthday-joey-logano.html), and at the Goodyear tire test at Kentucky Speedway on Wednesday, a reporter asked Joey how he spent his 21st birthday.

“Not the way you probably think I did,” he replied, to a chorus of laughter from everyone assembled in the Kentucky Speedway media center.

Turning 21 is a rite of passage for most kids Logano’s age. (And the fact that I’m calling him a kid when he’s only a year and a half younger than I am is a little strange) You can finally go out and legally have an adult beverage. In fact, you can have as many as you please.

But Logano isn’t that type of person.

“For me, I don’t know how to party. I’ve never partied in my life,” he said.

At one time, Mark Martin named Logano as the perfect successor to take over the No. 6 car at Roush Racing when Martin stepped out of that ride. The only problem was Logano was only 16 in 2006 when Martin stepped away from NASCAR full-time. He couldn’t legally drive a racecar in NASCAR’s top series, even though Martin said he was more than prepared.

It didn’t hurt that Randy LaJoie nicknamed him “Sliced Bread,” as in, the greatest thing since.

So instead, Logano burst onto the NASCAR scene in 2008, becoming the youngest NASCAR Nationwide (nee Busch) Series race winner by capturing the win at Kentucky three weeks after he turned 18. He’s won three straight at Kentucky.

But no matter how often Logano won the pole or won a race, he still couldn’t stand in front of cameras with the official beer sponsor of NASCAR anywhere on his firesuit. He couldn’t take photos holding the Coors Light flag that each pole winner gets. Instead, he stood in front of a banner that stated, “Must be 21 to drink.”

Now he can stand with a Coors Light flag in front of the Coors Light backdrop.

Logano may not party in the way that many kids his age do, but that doesn’t mean that the youngster didn’t throw what he considered to be a party at his house on his birthday.

“I just had some friends over my house and grilled out and played ping pong and jumped in the pool and played a basketball game—that we won, which was good,” he said. “That’s a fun night for me. I don’t go out, downtown or to the clubs or anything like that.”

And for someone like me, who could be considered “boring” like Logano, I respect that.

Plus, Logano said, “I don’t know how to dance,” which drew a lot of laughter from everyone in the media room at Kentucky.

Myself included. He might not have celebrated his birthday like “normal” 21 year olds do, but Joey Logano did it his way. And if his way of having a good time translates to wins on the racetrack, I don’t think many people will have a problem with young Joey Logano in the future.