Joey Logano's Little-Known Secret to Success on NASCAR Superspeedways

• Third-generation racer Coleman Pressley and NASCAR Cup Series driver Joey Logano have become a formidable combination, especially on superspeedways.

• The young Pressley and Logano developed a “cordial friendship” during their childhood years while racing Bandolero and Legend cars in the summer at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

• Pressley said, “Once we realized that we both take our jobs really seriously and have the same desires to win, (working together) was kind of a no brainer.

A friendship that originated during Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Summer Shootout Series has developed into a NASCAR Cup Series driver-spotter duo that’s become a formidable foe in superspeedway-style racing.

Since third-generation racer Coleman Pressley began spotting for long-time friend Joey Logano during the 2021 playoffs, the two have collected a NASCAR Cup championship, five victories, 16 top-five and 28 top-10 finishes. However, when it comes to superspeedway-style racing this year—Daytona and Atlanta—Logano hasn’t finished outside the top two. He placed second in the season opening Daytona 500 that ended a half lap shy of the checkered flag due to a caution.

A month later, he defeated former Team Penske teammate Brad Keselowski at Atlanta Motor Speedway. After that race Logano said Pressley did an “amazing job of painting the picture” for him regarding the bottom lane in the race’s closing laps.

“He’s so good at what he does, it’s ridiculous,” Logano said about Pressley. “It’s so much fun to listen to him and talk to him before the race, the homework that he does, how well he understands the sport.”

Each week the duo’s race preparation begins on Monday with a debrief. That includes talking with the team’s engineers, evaluating their previous weekend performance and plans to fix any problems that occurred. Tuesday is their individual time when they gather their ideas, thoughts, and notes for the next race. On Wednesday, they develop their race strategy. Logano said that planning allows them to understand what each one is thinking before a race begins.

“I think that’s what’s made us a real threat on the race track is that he knows me,” Logano said. “He knows exactly what I’m thinking. He can guide me into the right scenario. Even if he knows I’m thinking in a certain direction, if he sees it’s wrong, before I even make the move, he knows to tell me not to do it. That’s a really valuable thing to have.”

When it comes to understanding the draft, Logano believes he and Pressley, and Keselowski and his veteran spotter T.J. Majors are the two groups that “are the best.” Logano describes Pressley’s racing knowledge as “second to none” among the spotters.

“He really just truly understands speedway racing for one, but racing in general,” Logano said.

Pressley noted the two men trust each other and that’s instrumental in their success.

“We know what each other’s thinking in the moment,” Pressley said. “We understand each other’s pitch and voice … and hopefully, that gives us an edge when it comes time to crunch. We prepare together and more than anything, we don’t make the same mistakes twice.

“I’m not gonna say we’re perfect in any superspeedway race because … we can count … a half dozen things that we mess up, but we review those things. I think that’s where we kind of excel more than others is we have that open conversation with each other. Sometimes they’re hard conversations.”

An Asheville, N.C., native, Pressley grew up around racing. His grandfather, Bob Pressley, was a tenacious short-track racer in NASCAR’s Sportsman division which evolved into today’s Xfinity Series. The battles Bob and NASCAR Hall of Fame member Jack Ingram had each Friday night at the third-mile Asheville Speedway were legendary in Western North Carolina. Coleman’s father Robert Pressley began his racing career at that same tough short track. Robert’s racing career included 11 years in NASCAR’s Cup Series, 14 years in the Xfinity Series, and three in Craftsman Truck.

“He (Logano) realizes the Pressleys are probably the most competitive people in the world,” Coleman said. “Joey hates to lose, but he doesn’t know what a sore loser is until he meets a Pressley that raced at Asheville Speedway.”

The young Pressley and Logano developed a “cordial friendship” during their childhood years while racing Bandolero and Legend cars in the summer at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Logano and his family had relocated from Connecticut so Logano could pursue a racing career. However, they didn’t become close friends until their late teens when Logano obtained his own house in Huntersville, N.C., and Pressley, a Late Model racer, became his roommate for “three, four, maybe five years.” When their bachelor years ended, Pressley and his wife established their residence in Asheville adjacent to his parents and Logano remained in the Charlotte area.

Even though their residences are about 2 ½ hours from each other, that doesn’t prevent their families from enjoying time together away from the race track. They eat at Coleman’s father’s business, Celebrity’s Hotdogs, in Asheville and take their children to the short track where the Pressley family raced to ride their bicycles and play in the park. The track is now a state historic site and part of Asheville’s greenway.

“We enjoy our kids together, whether it’s going on vacation, watching our kids play ball or going to the race track with Hudson (Logano) and watch him race,” Pressley said.

“Not only are we very close, our wives are very close. They sit there and they probably talk more than we do. It makes our life a lot easier when our wives can get along and our kids can get along. We can be at the race track and do our jobs and then come home and still be around each other, but it’s not always about racing.

Logano’s parents recently purchased a house in Western North Carolina and that led to the NASCAR driver attempting snow skiing. He readily admitted it didn’t go well and Pressley said that didn’t surprise him.

“If anyone knows Joey, he’s not necessarily the most athletic person,” Pressley said with a chuckle. “So, it’s not surprising that he couldn’t figure it out. For as good of a race car driver as he is, when it comes to stick-and-ball sports he pretty much knows that he needs to step away a little bit.”

Last November, Logano spotted for Pressley when he stepped into a Late Model at Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway for the first time in eight years. Pressley won and Logano noted he was happy his fulltime spotter got to enjoy the victory with his family, especially since Pressley’s four daughters had never seen him race.

This year Pressley’s daughters also get to watch their father on TV on a regular basis. Pressley broadcasts from the spotter’s stand during Fox Sports NASCAR Xfinity Series telecasts. Pressley cited Logano as playing an instrumental role in the TV opportunity. He says it really doesn’t help him prepare for his Cup role because the racing is “so different” between the Cup and Xfinity series. Instead, it provides him with an opportunity to give back to the sport and “give my perspective and my knowledge to the fans and maybe open up a greater perspective.”

So, with such a strong, lengthy friendship between the two men why did it take them such a long time to form the formidable driver-spotter duo? Quite simply, they were concerned it would adversely affect their friendship. They both worked for Team Penske, but Pressley spotted for Keselowski. When Keselowski decided to leave the organization, Pressley was still under contract to Team Penske. Logano and Pressley discussed working together, and Pressley moved into the spotter’s role with Logano in 2021 when the Cup playoffs began.

“I think it took me having success as a spotter to make it where we were confident enough in each other that we could separate the professional side from the personal side,” Pressley said. “Once we realized that we both take our jobs really seriously and have the same desires to win, it was kind of a no brainer.

“Looking at it now, it’s why did we wait so long, but waiting so long has probably made it a little more successful and probably made some longevity out of it as well.”

Logano believes their relationship is the primary reason they are “great” on the race track.

“Probably no one besides my wife that knows me better than Coleman does,” Logano said.