Hudson Logano was 10 months old when his dad won his first NASCAR Cup Series Championship, and when Joey Logano won his second Cup title this past weekend at Phoenix Raceway, he had a special surprise planned for his now four-year-old son. After coming with Dad to collect the checkered flag, Hudson got the chance to ride shotgun in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford while Joey ripped some celebratory donuts. It's an idea Joey got from Kevin Harvick, who did the same thing with his son Keelan after winning at Michigan International Speedway back in 2019.
"We've had so many conversations over the last couple weeks before bedtime," Logano said in his post-race interview. "First was Daddy isn't going to get a pole, and he's going to meet me out here and we're going to win the race, and I couldn't be a liar to my son. So it's worked out. Ever since (Kevin) Harvick gave his son a ride in the car, I always wanted to do that with Hudson. He's such a little car guy. It was a special moment to ride together."
Our hearts. ?@joeylogano celebrated the championship with his son, Hudson. #TeamJL ? pic.twitter.com/zDDavg4EKt
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) November 6, 2022
In his post-victory interview at Phoenix, Logano went on to describe the importance of his heartwarming moment with Hudson.
"I always dreamed of winning with him here because I always wanted to take him for a ride," Logano continued. "We'd go for rides in hot rods all the time together, and it's definitely not the first donuts we've done together. But the first time in a race car, well — on the race track. It's the first time on a race track that we got to do donuts together.
"That's just cool, to see him running up there, grabbing the checkered flag, it's hard to explain. If you have kids, you understand the love that you have for them — it's truly unconditional love. To see him smiling and celebrate the moment together, it's truly the most awesome feeling."
"And the fact that we can talk about it, right? The first time I won it, he was like nine-months-old. He didn't know which way was up, could barely hold his head up. Now, to see him running up there and grabbing the flag and going for a ride with me, couldn't have picked a better race to do that for the first time."
Of course, Logano couldn't wrap up his interview without giving a shout-out to his two younger children, two-year-old Jameson and nine-month-old Emilia. They didn't make the trek out to Phoenix, but Joey assured them he'd be home soon.
"Daddy will be home soon, but we're going to party a little bit first."
