Teenager Logano wins first Sprint Cup win

The precocious 19-year-old rookie came back from a crash that put him a lap down earlier in the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 and won his first Cup race in his 20th start.

Logano was among a group of drivers who moved to the front of the field after getting out of sequence on fuel stops. The youngster took the lead when Ryan Newman, trying to stay on track as long as possible with rain threatening, ran out of gas on lap 264 in the event scheduled to go 301 laps.

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.

The competitors ran six slow laps under caution before NASCAR put out a red flag in hopes of drying the track. But the rain began falling harder and the race was called after 273 laps.

“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 overcome a lot today: tires down and more issues than you can imagine.”

Logano, 19 years, one month and four days old, broke the record set by Kyle Busch for the youngest winner. Busch, now 24, was 20 years, four months and two days when he won for the first time at California in Sept. 2005.

Logano was first spotted as a 15-year-old by NASCAR star Mark Martin, who predicted greatness for the youngster. He has been on the fast track ever since, winning races at every level and beating some of NASCAR's top developmental drivers along the way.

To his embarrassment, Logano earned the nickname “Sliced Bread,” as in, “the greatest thing since ... “

After two-time Cup champion Tony Stewart decided to leave Joe Gibbs Racing to become an owner-driver, Gibbs turned over the No. 20 Toyota that the Stewart had driven for the last 10 years to Logano. He also inherited veteran crew chief Greg Zipadelli, who worked with Stewart through that entire period.

“(Zipadelli) said to just stay out, rain's in the area,” Logano said. “So we started saving a little bit of fuel ... It's a dream come true, that's for sure.”

Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Terms

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos
 Respond to this email