Last year’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year Joey Logano emerged victorious in the May 22 Pennzoil Ultra Victory Challenge at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The event is a competition that pits some of NASCAR’s top drivers against one another to showcase their best post-win celebratory skills – otherwise known as the “burnout.”
Logano claimed a $10,000 prize that will be donated to his charity of choice, the USA Paralympics Hockey team. The players were in the stands to cheer him on.
This year’s format allowed the drivers a longer freestyle demonstration without a specific course to run. Each driver took their turn in identically prepared NASCAR Racing Experience stock cars and had 30 seconds to complete their respective runs. Two pylons were added for bonus points if knocked down during the runs.
An all-star lineup included Logano, defending Challenge champion Kevin Harvick, 2010 Daytona 500 champion Jaime McMurray, Clint Bowyer, Kyle Busch, Ryan Newman and David Reutimann.
In addition to the star-studded entry list, a group of A-list athletes and performers were tapped for the Judge’s Panel. Three-time World Wrestling Champion Jeff Hardy; All-Pro Charlotte Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith; the lead-singer and guitarist from Creed, Scott Stapp and Mark Tremonti; and former NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver and Speed Channel’s Jimmy Spencer were among the assessment team.
Logano claimed the trophy with a total of 67 out of 70 possible points.
“I thought that I was a little bit of an underdog,” he says.
“I felt that Kyle was going to be the favorite here,” Logano recounts. “I didn’t know what I was doing. I walked out onto pit road, and was like, ‘What’s the plan here?’ They said that we have some pylons and to hit those and make it spectacular, so that was what I did and apparently it was good enough to win,” he says.
“It’s pretty cool,” Logano observes. “I got this awesome trophy and I get $10,000 for my charity that I picked, which is the USA Paralympics Hockey Team.”
For more information, visit www.pennzoil.com.
