In winning Sunday’s Lenox Industrial Tools 301, Joey 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.”
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.
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. Auto Racing Daily
“We were really looking for just constant improvement, and that’s really what we’ve seen,” Gibbs said after Logano became the youngest driver in the history of the Sprint Cup series to win a race, taking the rain-shortened Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
“The last seven, eight races we’ve battled back from some real tough things,” Gibbs added.
“Well, I figured out this sport is a rollercoaster,” Logano said when asked how tough his learning curve has been. “I go up and down, up and down, up and down. ... One week you can win and the next week you can be 43rd.”
Four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon moved into second and was steadily cutting into the lead as Logano, with a nearly empty gas tank, conserved as much fuel as possible. But the rain began falling three laps later. TheItem.com
FIN CAR DRIVER MAKE 1 20 Joey Logano * Toyota 2 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 3 2 Kurt Busch Dodge 4 0 David Reutimann Toyota 5 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 6 9 Brad Keselowski Chevrolet 7 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 8 77 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 9 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 10 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge 11 7 Casey Mears Chevrolet 12 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 13 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 14 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet 15 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 16 34 John Andretti Chevrolet 17 43 Reed Sorenson Dodge 18 16 Greg Biffle Ford 19 99 Carl Edwards Ford 20 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 21 96 Bobby Labonte Ford 22 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 23 47 Marcos Ambrose Toyota 24 55 Michael Waltrip Toyota 25 7 Robby Gordon Toyota 26 19 Elliott Sadler Dodge 27 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 28 12 David Stremme Dodge 29 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 30 98 Paul Menard Ford 31 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 32 44 A.J. Allmendinger Dodge 33 26 Jamie McMurray Ford 34 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 35 83 Brian Vickers Toyota 36 187 Scott Speed * Toyota 37 1 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet 38 6 David Ragan Ford 39 187 Joe Nemechek Toyota 40 171 David Gilliland Chevrolet 41 37 Tony Raines Dodge 42 66 Dave Blaney Toyota 43 36 Patrick Carpentier Toyota
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