Dozens of 19 and 20 something’s roar onto the Nationwide scene each year. Very few make it, and most wreck their way out of the series never to be heard from again. Names like Ashton Lewis, Casey Atwood and Brandon Miller come to mind.

So how is it that Logano, some 18 year old from Connecticut, can best even the veterans in his first outing? I’m perplexed as to why, even if he’s been doing it all his life.

According to most racing fans, a driver can only go so fast on an oval. Gas, trail brake, let the car roll, and back into the gas you go. How Logano has mastered that concept so much better than literally every driver to come before him is what makes the barely graduated teen prodigy just that – a prodigy.

Many would also agree that a lot of the winning equation involves the quality of the car more than the driver. But Logano is changing that belief. He’s won in quarter midgets, legends and full body stock cars since his racing career started more than 12 years ago.

Logano’s name was first brought to the NASCAR racing community by Mark Martin. Yes, one of the oldest, wisest and most respected drivers ever in NASCAR praised Logano when he was only 15, saying he would put the kid in his Nextel Cup car at any track and let race.

Martin’s words turned the heads of many, including J.D. Gibbs. Logano drove as a Joe Gibbs Racing development driver once he was signed and will no doubt be flown all the way up the NASCAR ladder. The boo birds will like Logano’s personality better than Kyle Busch, who will be Logano’s teammate after taking a similar boost up to Sprint Cup at a young age.

Logano has been winning in the best equipment Gibbs has to offer as of late, but it wasn’t always that easy. The Logano family didn’t have a racing background; only a father looking for a sport for his child. When typical stick and ball sports weren’t working out for young Joey, his father bought him a go kart – at age four.

Therein lays the secret. Logano drives like an experienced veteran because he is one. With over 13 years of racing experience already, Logano is setting new standards for what up and coming race car drivers need to do.