The Albemarle Planet Fitness had its grand opening Saturday, with NASCAR driver Joey Logano as the guest attraction.

Logano was there to talk to fans, take picture and sign autographs.

“It’s been a crazy day,” said Ryan Miller, the Planet Fitness regional manager.

He said when they decided to open the gym in Albemarle, they wanted Logano at their grand opening because “Joey is someone we’ve worked with before to drive some traffic.”

Miller estimated about 400-500 people showed up.

Along with Logano, there were three food trucks — Fresh Med, Wonder Wings and KO — as well as a few radio stations including iHeartRadio.

“Joey’s been awesome,” said general manager Emily Cruse. “He’s always super successful and super sweet.”

“We’ve been averaging more than 100 new memberships a day,” said Miller and in total the gym has about 2,000 memberships since its soft opening on Dec. 26.

“We want to get our name out to the community in order to make a difference in people’s health and lives,” said Miller.

He said Planet Fitness’ mission is to transform lives.

“It seems we have some raving fans here in Albemarle,” he said.

Cruse said the staff had been planning for Logano and the grand opening for the past month.

“The grand opening has been very successful,” she said. “The first hour was just non-stop in terms of the crowd.”

Founded in 1992, Planet Fitness is known for being a gym that caters to anyone, regardless of their gym experience. Planet Fitness has a hassle-free, non-intimidating environment known as the Judgement Free Zone.

“I want everyone to know that we are such a welcoming and open environment,” said Miller. “Our Judgement Free Zone is very important to us.”

Planet Fitness is at 720 NC-24, Suite 6, Albemarle.