March 28, 2024

Joey Logano to race in DuPont Pioneer 250

Iowa Speedway officials announced Tuesday that NASCAR Sprint Cup star Joey Logano, who won the Newton track’s first-ever NASCAR race in May of 2007 at 16 years of age, will drive a Penske Ford Mustang in the track’s first Nationwide Series race of the season, the DuPont Pioneer 250 on Saturday evening, June 8.

Logano, now 22 and in his fifth full season of Sprint Cup Series racing, is perhaps best known as the youngest race winner ever in both the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and NASCAR Nationwide Series. But to Iowa race fans, he is also known as the kid from Connecticut who beat Kevin Harvick in Iowa Speedway’s inaugural NASCAR K&N Pro Series East vs. West challenge race on May 18, 2007.

“We couldn’t be happier to have Joey Logano back racing with us again,” said Iowa Speedway president Stan Clement. “Joey’s outspoken, ‘take no prisoners’ style will add a lot of excitement to the race for our fans, and you can bet he’ll be coming to Newton with one thing in mind — winning the DuPont Pioneer 250 on June 8.”

Racing for a K&N Pro Series East (then Busch East) championship that he ultimately won in 2007, Logano bested a field of older, more experienced racers in NASCAR’s first combined East-West points race for the two developmental divisions on Iowa Speedway’s 7/8-mile tri-oval.

The K&N Pro Series win wasn’t Logano’s only major accomplishment at Iowa Speedway. In 2006, Logano, then 16, competed in the first-ever major series race at the track, the then Hooters Pro Cup Series event, and led the first competitive lap ever run at the Newton track.

“I’m really excited about going back to Iowa, especially for a Nationwide Series race,” said Logano, who has 18-career Nationwide Series wins to his credit. “I’ve made a lot of memories at the track. That race with (Kevin) Harvick in 2007 was one of the best races I’ve ever been a part of. It was so much fun battling back and forth with him and winning the thing. So to now come back and have a shot at earning a Nationwide Series win in front of what I’m sure will be a pretty large crowd is exciting. It will be fun doing double-duty between Iowa and Pocono. My goal is to go two-for-two that weekend.”

Tickets for the DuPont Pioneer 250 NASCAR Nationwide Series race, scheduled for 8 pm on June 8, start at $25 and are available online at www.iowaspeedway.com, or by calling the toll-free ticketing hotline at 866-RUSTY-GO (787-8946). Tickets are also available at the Iowa Speedway Ticket Office, located at 3333 Rusty Wallace Drive in Newton, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Season Tickets and weekend passes are also available for Iowa Speedway’s 2013 racing season, which begins on June 7–8. Other major events include the Iowa Corn Indy 250 weekend on June 22-23, the second NASCAR Nationwide Series weekend, the U.S. Cellular 250, on August 2-3, and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series weekends, the American Ethanol 200 on July 12-13, and the Prairie Meadows 150 ARCA race and Iowa 200 NASCAR Truck clash on Sept. 7-8. A lifestyle event, the Iowa Grand Motorcycle Rally, kicks off the major event weekends on May 30–June 2.