Gibbs set to announce Logano will drive No. 20

The wait is almost over for Joey Logano.

Joe Gibbs Racing will hold a news conference Monday, Aug. 25, at the organization's headquarters in Mooresville, N.C., to make it official that Logano will drive the No. 20 Toyota full-time in the Sprint Cup Series beginning next season.

Logano, 18, is expected to be in a Cup car for the first time at Richmond on Sept. 6, although one source stressed that "isn't a 1,000-percent done deal just yet."

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The only possible hold-up on JGR putting Logano in a fourth car at Richmond is the fact that the other three JGR Toyotas are currently in the midst of battling to make the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.

"In no way will JGR jeopardize any of those cars' chances of making the Chase [by putting Logano in a Cup car at Richmond]," the source said. "They don't even want to risk the appearance of possibly jeopardizing the Chase chances of the other three cars."

The three JGR cars in question are the No. 20 currently being driven by Tony Stewart, the No. 18 driven by Kyle Busch, and the No. 11 piloted by Denny Hamlin. Busch leads the points standings and already has clinched the No. 1 seed for the Chase, which includes the top 12 drivers in points after the first 26 races of the season. After Sunday race at Michigan, Stewart is sixth in points and Hamlin 12th.

The Richmond race is the final event before the 10-race Chase commences.

Prior to last Sunday's race at Michigan, JGR team president J.D. Gibbs was asked about Logano's immediate and long-term future.

"He'll run some Cup races this year whether or not he runs the full thing next year or not," Gibbs said. "That's not the problem. Which ones we're going to run with him is still a problem, and we're still in the process of laying out how that works.

"We're just trying to figure out when can we gear up and do that ourselves, internally."

Logano finished seventh in Saturday's Nationwide Series race at Michigan. In nine Nationwide starts this season, he has finished lower than 10th only twice -- with one win, two poles, and three top-five finishes.

The No. 20 ride came open when Stewart announced that he would be leaving JGR at season's end to become driver/part-owner of the newly formed Stewart-Haas Racing that will field two Chevrolet cars beginning in 2009. Stewart will drive the No. 14 car for the new team, while Ryan Newman will sit in the No. 4 Chevy.