LONGANO BECOMES YOUNGEST EVER NASCAR WINNER WITH VICTORY AT NEW HAMPSHIRE

Joey Logano had some big shoes to fill in his rookie season as a driver in NASCAR’s top level Sprint Cup series.  He had been tabbed by Joe Gibbs racing to replace Tony Stewart, who had left to form his own team.  Logano has a ways to go before he’s in the same class as Stewart, but he’s off to a good start—on Sunday he became the youngest driver in NASCAR history to win a Sprint Cup series event as he took the checkered flag in a rain shortened race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Logano already has three victories in the second tier Nationwide Circuit, but by winning the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 he supplanted Kyle Busch as the youngest victor in series history.  Logano is only 19 years and 35 days old, making Busch—who won in 2005 at California at the age of 20 years and 125 days—look downright elderly.  Despite his early success, Logano is trying to maintain perspective in the demanding sport of stock car racing:

"Well, I figured out this sport is a rollercoaster. I go up and down, up and down, up and down. ... One week you can win and the next week you can be 43rd."

Logano gave all of the credit to crew chief Greg Zipadelli, who made the call to stay out on the track during a late race caution when most of the other lead lap drivers refueled:

“I was, like, 'The day just went bad, just try to finish it off and get as best finish we can,' and we made the right move at the end. He went for it and I was just lucky enough to be in the seat," Logano said. "He said to just stay out, rain's in the area. So we started saving a little bit of fuel ... It's a dream come true, that's for sure.”

"Obviously, it's not the way you want to win your first race, in the rain. But 20 years down the road, when you look in the record books, no one will know the difference. A win is a win and I'll take them any way I can."

Zipadelli sounded almost surprised that his gambit worked out successfully:

"It's crazy. Obviously, everything at the end of the day went our way. You can't control the weather. The only thing you can do is try to play it to our hand."

Team owner Joe Gibbs, better known to some as a legendary NFL football coach, praised the performance of his young driver:

"We were really looking for just constant improvement, and that's really what we've seen. The last seven, eight races we've battled back from some real tough things. We know today we were fortunate. And we know there will probably be some tough days out there for us. But I'm absolutely thrilled for Joey and his family and for us, all of us at Joe Gibbs Racing. We figure we can keep this going, ride this thing for about 20 years."

Logano was ‘discovered’ at age 15 by NASCAR driver Mark Martin, and has been on the fast track (no pun intended) to auto racing stardom ever since.  He’s had his ups and downs this year, but has shown some impressive skill and amazing poise behind the wheel for such a young driver.

The rest of the top five were more familiar names—Jeff Gordon finished second, Kurt Busch third, David Reutimann fourth and Tony Stewart fifth.  Stewart’s finish enabled him to retain the overall series point lead, ahead of Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch and Kyle Edwards.