“Whoa Joey” - Wild Ride For Logano at Dover
I love how Joey Logano reacts in his Home Depot commercial – you know the one, where the old salesman tells him he has 300,000 fans (Home Depot workers) ready and waiting to give their support – and Joey impishly smiles and says “Whoa!”
No matter how many times I see that particular commercial, I always seem to have a smile right after it airs.
I bet Joey once again said “Whoa!” – not to mention a few other more choice words – after Sunday’s terrifying end-over-end to the eighth power crash at Dover International Speedway.
Logano barrel-rolled eight times, leaving his car junk, but more importantly, he was miraculously left unhurt.
“Whoa!”
But perhaps the most telling image after Logano climbing out of the wrecked race car and walking to the ambulance under his own power was ABC’s cameras panning after Joey’s father, Tom Logano, sprinting at full speed towards the infield medical care center to check on how his son was doing.
As a father of three young adult, including a 19-year-old son just like Joey, my heart went from being that of a reporter to that of a fellow, compassionate father, hoping and praying for both Joey and Tom, not to mention Joey’s mother and the rest of the family.
In a way, I almost felt like I was running alongside Tom, because I would have done the same exact thing if it was my boy.
Maybe 30 minutes later, Joey tried to put a light-hearted spin on what was anything but. Yet one look at Logano staring at the camera, trying to downplay what happened, told the real truth: he just had experienced arguably the biggest fright – and ride – of his young life, and he appeared to be still shaking like a leaf inside.
Understandably so, I might add.
Thankfully, everything turned out all for the best. Joey’s okay, his family can breath a little easier and the young 19-year-old driver came through what will be the first major crash of his budding Sprint Cup career – but more than likely, not his last – relatively unscathed.
All I can say, all Joey can say, all anybody can say is, simply:
“Whoa!”
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