CONCORD, N.C. — Joey Logano’s trip Friday to storm-ravaged Western North Carolina left him looking at what more he could do to help those in need.
“It was worse than I thought it was going to be,” Logano said in response to a question from NBC Sports.
About 18,000 customers in the Asheville, North Carolina region remain without power, according to Duke Energy. Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida on Sept. 26 and devastated Western North Carolina as a tropical storm on Sept. 26 and 27. Areas of Western North Carolina were flooded. Infrastructure and roads were destroyed in some parts.
“The families, oh my God,” Logano said. “Talking to some of them, the problems and things and hurdles they’re going to have to cross to live is some of the most sad scenarios you can ever dream up.
“Losing your family members. Cleaning up. Trying to find bodies. Trying to figure out if you have any value in your home at all, if you can get any money out of it. Burial costs. It stacks up.
‘Where are you going to live? Do I have a job anymore?’ These are all questions that everybody in the mountains are asking themselves right now. So even if your home is fine, it doesn’t mean your place of work is fine. A lot of places don’t have water and they can’t open up. Some areas look like COVID up there, where there are shut down businesses. It’s unbelievable.”
Logano is just among one of many in the NASCAR community providing aid. Various tracks have served as a collection point for supplies to be sent there, including Charlotte Motor Speedway. Some teams have flown supplies to the region. Others have sent trucks.
Former Cup driver Greg Biffle is among the private helicopter pilots who have made several trips to the affected areas dropping off supplies. Biffle will serve as the starter for Sunday’s Cup playoff race (2 p.m. ET on NBC) to honor his efforts.
Chase Elliott, who is pilot, noted the challenges that Biffle and other helicopter pilots faced in their trips.
“A lot of admiration for that,” Elliott said. “I know that doing that type of flying is not easy, especially in an unfamiliar area and with all the terrain and power lines being down … just not really knowing exactly where things were and what they are. A lot of respect to him for going to do that, one, wanting to help and, two, going an executing it safely and doing a good job at it.”
Logano was struck all the people he saw providing aid.
“There was an amazing amount of people wiling to help,” he said. “Churches were full of people bringing supplies. Some people had tents set up on the side of the road (and said) ‘I got water and clothes. Here you go.’ No questions asked.
“That’s the one positive I saw is that everyone put their differences, politically, financially, whatever it is, they put them to the side and they decided to help.”
Logano said his focus turns to what more he can do to help.
“We need to do a lot,” he said. “We need to do a lot. The goal (Friday) was to explore and figure out where we can best place the funds from the Joey Logano Foundation to help.
“The only way you can do that correctly is to be there and see it and say, ‘OK where are things doing pretty good and where are things lacking and how do we look three months, six months, a year ahead and put a plan together.? You’re asking a day after. We don’t have a plan yet, but we have a lot of ideas. We’re exploring a lot of different things after (Friday), which is totally worth doing up there, so we make a huge impact.
“Honestly, I wanted to be at the church loading people’s cars up. I wanted to do that. The biggest impact I can make is trying to figure out where we can place hundreds of thousands of dollars, maybe millions of dollars, to help people.
“Roofs are maybe the biggest things. Putting roofs overhead. Vehicles are another thing. Just straight up money. As simple as that sounds, some people are just going to be hurting because their life savings went down a hill.”
