Joey Logano Says He’s Not Worried About The NASCAR Fans Who Boo Him: “When They Don’t Like Me? Screw ‘Em”

Not his problem.

Joey Logano is the defending NASCAR Cup Series champion, and with three championships under his belt already he’s tied for third on the list of drivers with the most championships all time. If he wins another, he’ll move into second and tie Jeff Gordon, while only Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty have more with seven championships each.

Long story short, it’s hard to argue that he’s among the best NASCAR drivers of all time, regardless of how you feel about him.

But the driver of the #22 car for Team Penske is, like all of the great drivers were during their time, a polarizing figure in the sport. He’s had his share of run-ins with other drivers over the years, and of course other fanbases just hate to see him win and beat their favorite driver (to steal a phrase from Denny Hamlin).

If you listen to the crowd during driver introductions, you can usually tell when a few drivers are introduced: Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson usually get the loudest cheers, while Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano usually get the loudest boos. (I would have thrown Kyle Busch in here a couple years ago, but the crowds seem to have changed their mind on him since he moved to Richard Childress Racing).

But one thing that all of these drivers who get the biggest crowd reactions have in common is that they win. A lot. Elliott and Larson are both past champions, and if Hamlin doesn’t win a championship before he retires he’ll go down as the greatest driver to never win it all.

It just comes with the territory when you win a lot: Fans either love you or they hate you, and there’s really no middle ground.

We recently had the opportunity to sit down with Joey Logano for an episode of our Whiskey Riff Raff podcast, and full transparency, he wasn’t one of my favorite drivers before the interview. But after talking to him, I may have changed my mind.

Joey was, without a doubt, one of the nicest guys I’ve ever interviewed (and there have been a lot of them, whether it’s NASCAR or country music). He was easy to talk to, funny, laid back and had a ton of personality. It was a side of Joey Logano that a lot of fans don’t get to see: Usually the only time we as NASCAR fans get to see our driver is during or immediately after a race, in the heat of competition.

Just a few days before our interview, Joey held a fundraiser for his Joey Logano Foundation at Coyote Joe’s in Charlotte to help raise money for children in foster care and provide stability for children during times of crisis. And one of the things I asked him about was whether it bothers him when he does these great things off the track and then finds himself getting booed during a race.

But as Joey mentions, it’s important to separate who he is as a competitor – whose goal is to win no matter what – from who he is as a person:

“You also gotta know why you’re doing it, the purpose of why you’re doing it. Am I doing it for people to like me? No. 

So when they don’t like me? Screw ’em. I don’t care. I know who I am, right? I know my heart inside, so if you haven’t had the opportunity to meet me away from the race track…

Yeah, in a competitive environment, am I cutthroat? Absolutely. It is, I’m there to win and I’m going to take everyone down to do it… I want to go win. It’s all or nothing. That doesn’t make me a bad person, and it’s really hard for people to understand that. But that’s just who I am as a competitive person. I’m just a winner kinda person. I gotta win, I gotta win, that’s what I gotta do.

But if people don’t like that, I’m not going to change that piece of me. Cause that’s what’s helped me become successful. That’s what’s allowed me to do a lot of things with the Foundation. One thing helps the other. If it wasn’t for the trophies, that’s how I win. If it wasn’t for that, then I can’t make an impact any other way.

So if you’re going to boo me for that? Screw you. You think I care? I really don’t. I just kinda keep going with my life.”

The whole interview really provided a lot of insight not only into who Joey Logano is as a person, as well as why he is the way he is as a fiery (and championship-winning) competitor. If you’re a Joey Logano hater, it’s worth a listen – because you might just walk away with a different opinion on one of NASCAR’s most polarizing drivers.

The post Joey Logano Says He’s Not Worried About The NASCAR Fans Who Boo Him: “When They Don’t Like Me? Screw ‘Em” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.