Netflix released Season 2 of their NASCAR series, "Full Speed", last week, and Team Penske's Joey Logano, who was also featured in Season 1, returned for the second season as well.
Logano had past experience in this side of the TV world, having been a part of USA Network's "Race to the Championship" in 2022 when he won his second Cup Series championship, so he really didn't hesitate when given the opportunity to again be a part of "Full Speed", which also gives fans a more in-depth look at the playoffs.
"I knew what it was going to be about," Logano told Beyond the Flag. "There was a NASCAR doc even before this, it was on USA, so I was involved in that one, which that year was great, because we won the championship, so that was a fun one to watch."
Even having been a part of the 2022 USA series, "Full Speed" was a different kind of experience.
"Not much; minimal stuff," he said when asked about his past experience with this side of the TV world. "But not like an actual camera crew following you around to random places."
Logano, who made it to the playoffs with a five-overtime victory at Nashville Superspeedway last year, got hot during the postseason and went on to win the 2024 championship as well.
"This one on Netflix last year was great, watched it," he said. "Obviously when they start filming it, you don’t know where you’re going to finish in the championship, right? And so it’s great to ultimately be able to win. It ends up being a really fun docuseries to watch when you get to watch yourself win. It’s obviously pretty fun."
He believes the producers did a great job in putting together a show that appeals to old and new fans alike.
"I thought they did a good job," he said. "I thought, when I look at the episodes, I thought in the beginning it was definitely geared toward the rookie NASCAR fan, like explaining what NASCAR is, how the playoff system works, why certain races are important, and then each episode gets like one step more into the nitty-gritty, a little bit deeper into what NASCAR is. I like that.
"As someone who is in the sport, I appreciate the stuff that's deep. I want to know how we prepared, I want to know the drama, that type of stuff. But I also understand that if I came in as a non-fan, I'd be like 'what the heck am I watching, what is – what does that even mean?’ You have to get a little bit educated. I thought they did a really good job telling the story of not only the drivers and how they prepare, but NASCAR and the playoffs, what it is and the drama that goes along with that."
He also thought they did a great job bridging the gap between the stuff that happens on the track versus the stuff the happens away from the track.
"I think you look at, I think there are a few different things, one being I think it's cool for fans to kind of get the peek behind the curtains of how teams prepare for races, but also how drivers prepare, and it kind of gives you a little bit of background too on who that person is," Logano stated.
"I feel like so often in professional sports, people see the athlete when he's competing, right? They see you when you are in battle, but they don't see you away from the track. They don't see who you actually are, right? They see the competitive person, but they don't see the actual person, and I feel like the docuseries is a great avenue for people to be able to see your real personality, who you really are. That seems to be one of the biggest gains to me."
Though that did involve filming away from the race track, it didn't really affect Logano's everyday life much.
"Minimal, minimal stuff," he said. "Not much would change, really, just kind of that they'd follow you around like, 'do you', and I'm like, ‘okay, here's what we're going to do today.’ And we knew the days, obviously. They wouldn't just show up at your house and knock on the door and say ‘hey, we got cameras,’ you know, like, ‘we're going to watch you brush your teeth today,’ it's not that.
"But you knew when they were coming and you would spend some time, maybe prepare something to do. They don't want to see you sitting on the couch watching TV, but the reactions and things that happen when you're doing it are real, like the kids are doing their thing, and you'll see that when you watch. It's just who we are."
Any time any racing series has any kind of docuseries such as this one, there are inevitable comparisons to Netflix's "F1: Drive to Survive", given that show's immense popularly since it was first released in 2019. Logano also reflected on that.
"It's similar, but different," he explained. "In some ways, they follow drivers in the same way. But F1 to NASCAR, I mean, it's polar opposites, right? The type of racing, the people, fans, it's just a different product.
"When you look at what it is, it's different, and there's nothing wrong with that. Everyone needs to kind of own what they are, and I think this really owns what NASCAR is, which is what our roots are. We’re a bunch of people who love high horsepower, big, heavy stock cars, bumping and banging. That's our roots. That's who we are.
"We race at short tracks, we'll race at anything in between. We don't care. We're not scared to push and shove – unapologetic, right? That is what NASCAR is. And they show that really, really well. And so yeah, there are just different forms of motorsport out there, and so it's whatever you want. But for me, personally, I'm a NASCAR guy. I've always loved it."
Though Logano himself wasn't surprised by much of what was in the show, even from the behind-the-scenes standpoint, he believes that fans can walk away from the series with a better understanding of who each driver is away from the race track, which is something you don't get to see on TV during a race weekend.
"At this point, I've been doing this for 17 years or whatever, 16-17 years," he said. "I'm not surprised much anymore, because I live the world. So it's fun to kind of watch that. I don’t know that there's anything that really stood out that was super surprising. ... I can't say I was surprised by much, personally. I try not to be surprised in my life as much as I can.
"I would say all the characters, if you will, the drivers in the show, I feel like I knew them. I think it would be a lot of things that other people don't know. I’ve been around these people for 15 years, so I kind of know them really well. It's like watching a docuseries on your friends. You're like 'yeah, I knew that.’ But a lot of people don't know, and so I think that's kind of what it is."