Logano is growing up fast

He's the youngest driver ever to win a Cup race, and Joey Logano still hasn't turned 20. He won't until May 24.

After a down-and-up rookie season, Logano is starting to settle in as a sophomore. He's gained confidence, is becoming a regular near the front and thinks he has a realistic shot at making the Chase.

Earlier this week, Logano talked to Yahoo! Sports about life on the Cup scene, what's been the biggest adjustment in moving up to the big leagues and if he has any plans for his upcoming birthday:

1. Yahoo! Sports: You're 17th in the standings. Are you happy with that considering where you are in your career, or disappointed considering how you've run?

Logano: We have been running better than that, so you're frustrated at one point because you feel like you're better than 17th in the points, but on the other hand we're not that far out of 12th and we have been better than that, so that's a good thing.

I feel like if we do our job and we do it right, I feel like we can get back up there where I need to be. And I feel like we have a good shot at making the Chase here. We've been fast.

Last week was the first time I didn't feel like we were fast enough to really run great. We finished 16th last week. If all the stars had aligned and everything fell right, maybe we would have had a top 10, but we really didn't have any speed in the car last week. But I feel like we were kind of able to work through that.

If a bad week for us is 16th, I'll take that considering where we were last year when 16th was a good week for us. That's cool to see the improvement there.

2. Yahoo! Sports: Is the Chase a reach or a realistic goal?

Logano: I think it's a realistic goal. We were up to 12th [in the standings], and I think we were up to ninth or eighth at one point. We've been up there. We've been shuffled out already once before this year and we made it back into it, so we can do it again. We just have to find some more consistent finishes. We've had some good runs, some good top-five, top-10 finishes. Those two wrecks we had at Talladega and Texas really hurt us.

I think we're 97 points out or something like that right now, and if you think about those two wrecks, that's definitely 100 points right there. So, we should be up there. I know everyone's got these coulda-shoulda-woulda things going on with wrecks and this or that. It's just part of the sport.

3. Yahoo! Sports: What has been the most difficult adjustment for you jumping up to the Cup Series as an 18-year-old?

Logano: It hasn't been easy, I'll put it that way. I think just getting used to the car, getting used to working with the people and all that I think has been the hardest part. It's also knowing what you want in the race car. It's just been a lot of things. Just getting used to the car has been hard.

Yahoo! Sports: Do you have the confidence given your lack of experience to tell your crew chief Greg Zipadelli, who has a ton of experience, what you need in the car?

Yeah, but you have to tell them what I need in my race car. Last year it was hard for me to tell them because I wasn't 100-percent sure. This year, I'm a lot more sure and more confident in what I tell 'em.

4. Yahoo! Sports: As one of the toughest tracks on the schedule, Darlington wouldn't be the track where most would suspect a light would go on, but it did for you last season. What was different about that weekend for you?

Logano: You're right, and I don't know why. That weekend, we weren't good in practice the whole time. I mean, we were 30th-quick or so. And I just couldn't get it figured out. Finally in qualifying I just said, 'Screw it, I'm driving this thing as hard as I can and do whatever I can do,' and we qualified fifth. From there I kind of had it figured out. I ran good in the race; we led some laps. We had a good shot at winning. We had to take fuel. We weren't going to make it, or we could have made it but we weren't going to take that chance and we finished ninth.

I don't know why that place clicked for me, but I'm not complaining about it either.

5. Yahoo! Sports: Was there a time last season when you didn't know if you belonged in the Cup Series and, if so, when did you finally feel like you did?

Logano: I think in the beginning of the season I was definitely in over my head for sure. I feel like as the season kept going we made improvements the second time we went to these race tracks and all that. You know, you start feeling, 'OK, I'm going to be alright. I'm going to be OK.' And this year feels even better, so I think it's coming along with time.

6. Yahoo! Sports: Do you feel your competitors respect you on the track?

Logano: Yeah, I do.

Yahoo! Sports: Do you ever feel the need to assert yourself more to defend yourself?

Logano: At times. You gotta talk to 'em and get along with everyone off the race track, and on the race track is the same type of deal. You gotta race with respect, but at the same time you've got to race hard at certain times, too. It's part of the sport, man. I've been there before when you're racing with a lot of different guys growing up, and it's the same type of deal.

7. Yahoo! Sports: You still live with your parents. When do you plan on moving out?

Logano: I don't know. I'm building a shop here in a little bit and will probably put an apartment in there and kind of hang out – just somewhere to put my stuff.

I don't know. I just feel like I gotta build the shop here and get everything situated there and then kind of play it by ear.

I don't want to live by myself. I don't like being by myself. I like having someone around me all the time. I don't know, I'm just weird like that. You never know, it could be this year, it could be next year. Right now I get a home-cooked meal when I get home, so that's good.

Yahoo! Sports: What kind of shop are you're building?

Logano: Just somewhere to store – I've got some old cars and stuff like that, put some offices in there.

8. Yahoo! Sports: What's the most frivolous thing you spend money on?

Logano: I don't spend money on a lot of things. I'm pretty cheap. The shop will be the biggest thing I've ever bought, for sure. I guess antique cars and cars are kind of my weakness. Besides that, though, I'm pretty cheap on little stuff. Going shopping at the mall and stuff like that, I wouldn't do it. But I go to a car show or something like that, that's my weakness.

9. Yahoo! Sports: You turn 20 in a couple of weeks. Any big plans?

Logano: No, I don't. I don't know what I'm doing, but I'll be 20 in the 20, so that's kind of cool. But I don't really have any big plans. I don't know, I'm not a big partier or anything like that. Maybe we'll just cook out at the house and have some friends over and hang out.

9½. The one thing I want fans to know about me is …

Logano: How much I appreciate them. A little political, but it's a good answer.