Kevin Harvick is already a NASCAR Nextel Cup Series star.
Chances are Joey Logano will be one someday.
Especially if the 16-year-old continues on his current torrid pace. Logano won his third Grand National Division race in four career starts in Sunday’s Featherlite Coaches 200. And his latest win came over runner-up Kevin Harvick by nearly two and a half seconds – a day after Harvick won the NEXTEL Cup All-Star Challenge and three months after he won the Daytona 500.
“It was fun racing against him, ” said Logano following what he called the biggest win of his career. “We ran hard. We bumped each other a couple times. I had fun (and) I’m sure he had a blast, too. ”
The first NASCAR sanctioned event at Iowa Speedway drew a facility-record estimated crowd of 24,741. It was also one of the largest stand-alone crowds in NASCAR Grand National Division history.
The race was the second in three days in which the NASCAR Grand National Divisions – the West Series and the Busch East Series – ran together. But Logano, a development driver for Joe Gibbs Racing, and Harvick, a former West Series champion, nearly turned into a two-man show.
The two swapped the lead 15 times, with Logano moving into first for the final time following on a lap 194 restart.
“I got a good start, ” Logano said. “We went down into (turn) 1 and I said, ‘Here we go, checker or wrecker. ’ I drove it in there, I heard him on and off the gas, I was on and off the gas, we were both sideways …”
Harvick said he was unable to mount a challenge in the closing laps because of engine problems.
“We were in trouble (early), ” said Harvick. “The motor was on seven cylinders there and I think it’s a huge credit to the race track because I could overdrive my car into the corner … not use the brake, and use the banking to still race. ”
Jesus Hernandez, a development driver for Ginn Racing and a member of the Drive for Diversity program, finished third. West Series drivers Johnny Borneman and Mike Duncan were fourth and fifth respectively.
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