Rookie driver Joey Logano outfoxed two savvy Sprint Cup veterans to capture yesterday’s Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Logano, 19, became the youngest driver to win a Sprint Cup race because he gambled that the fuel in his tank would outlast the storm clouds that were gathering in the Lakes Region. Logano was in first place when the rain began to fall and the yellow flag caution sent the fleet to pit row. The downpour failed to abate and Logano was declared the victor ahead of three-time NHMS winner Jeff Gordon and defending champion Kurt Busch.
“We got lucky obviously, the rain came at the right time but a win is a win in my book,” Logano said. “But today was cool because this is where I watched my first Cup race, where I ran my first Cup race and where I won my first Cup race.
“This is kind of like home turf for me.”
Logano enjoyed the collaboration of colossal good fortune and the sound judgment of veteran crew chief Greg Zipadelli. Logano began in the 24th position and did little to improve on that in the first half of the race. Boston Herald
In winning Sunday’s Lenox Industrial Tools 301, Logano spun once, benefited from two “free passes” after falling a lap down and, he said, had to overcome an early feeling that he was lost out there trying to figure out where he needed to be.
“It’s not the way you want to win your first race,” he said. “But 20 years down the road when you look in the record books, no one will know the difference.”
Indeed, the NASCAR record book will reflect only that Logano supplanted Kyle Busch as the youngest winner in the premier circuit’s 61 years and not the bizarre path the Joe Gibbs Racing driver traveled to get there.
“It’s crazy,” crew chief Greg Zipadelli said. “Everything (at) the end went our way. You can’t control the weather. The only thing we can do is try to play it to our hand.” USA Today
“I guess I’d rather be lucky than good right now,” Logano said as he waited for the decision. “Obviously, we didn’t have the car to win, but we’ve overcame a lot [Sunday]—tires down and more issues than you can imagine.”
Stewart, who drove the previous 10 seasons in Gibbs’ No. 20 with Zipadelli as his crew chief, had the dominant car in the 2008 race at New Hampshire but was the victim of Busch’s good fortune.
“Yeah, I’m happy for Zippy and Joey and all the guys,” Stewart said. “Man, you take ‘em any way you can get ‘em. That’s as much a strategy as shocks and springs and everything else. They still had to work to get themselves in that position, so they did a good job.”
The race was slowed by 11 caution flags for 47 laps including an eight-car wreck on Lap 175 that took out contenders Martin Truex Jr., Jeff Burton and Brian Vickers.
It appeared that Dale Earnhardt Jr., in third at the time, spun his tires on a restart and Truex, right behind him, slowed and was hit from behind by Kyle Busch, igniting the melee. NASCAR
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