NASCAR Family Man Joey Logano Strives for More 'Normal'

• Joey Logano, 33, roared into the top levels of NASCAR as a teenager who looked even younger than his age.

• Now he carries the important title of Dad three times over.

• Life at the Logano home in North Carolina is busy.

The week-to-week life of a NASCAR Cup Series driver often follows a script.

There are sponsor appearances here and there. There are weekly team meetings. There are news media obligations. There is travel to and from race locations. The 38-race season is a marathon of scheduling and competition.

Somewhere wedged into all that is family life, and the approach to making both sides work is handled differently by each driver.

For two-time Cup champion Joey Logano, the work-life balance is determined by a wall that separates them.

“I try to do things one at a time,” Logano said. “My wife (Brittany) knows when I go to work—don’t call me unless it’s an emergency. When I come home, work knows don’t call me unless it’s an emergency. That way I’m 100% at whatever I’m doing.

“I don’t want to take anything away from my family when I’m with them, but I also can’t afford to not give racing 100 percent of my effort when I’m there. I’m responsible for the livelihoods of a lot of people who work on my team and depend on my performance. I have to keep my priorities aligned, and the only way I can do it is putting 100 percent at each thing, not by trying two or three at one time.”

Life at the Logano home in North Carolina is busy. With three children under 7 – Hudson is 6, Jameson 3 and Emilia almost 2, the Loganos have a schedule any parent with three very young children can understand. Merge that with a demanding racing schedule, and it often seems as if each day doesn’t have enough hours.

That’s the reason Logano compartmentalizes everything.

“It’s hard,” he said. “There are days when you feel like you didn’t do a good enough job of being a dad. But you have to realize that part of being a good dad is setting a good example of going to work and showing them what you do and trying to take them with you. And I try to maximize every moment I have with them.”

Logano, 33, roared into the top levels of NASCAR as a teenager who looked even younger than his age. Now he carries the important title of Dad three times over.

“It’s been great,” he said. “Honestly, it’s changed me as a person for the better. I think any parent will probably agree with that. I think God wants us to have kids. It teaches us so many things you otherwise would never think of. You become a better person. I have a lot to learn still, but it’s been fine.”

Hudson, the oldest of the three Logano children, is the master pilot of a four-wheeler in the Loganos’ backyard, and he has dipped his toes into quarter-midget racing, an idea his father approaches with more than a bit of caution.

“If the kids want to race and share the love of cars, that’s great,” he said. “But I don’t want him to think he has to reach a certain level because his dad did. I don’t want him to have that pressure.

“At the couple of races he’s run, they’ve introduced him as ‘Joey Logano’s son, Hudson.’ I hate that. He’s coming in like every other kid. When we go to race, we throw stuff in the back of the pickup and he takes his dirty helmet. I want him to be as normal as possible.”

“Normal” is a word not often associated with life in the whirlwind that is NASCAR. But it’s a goal for Joey Logano, dad.