19-year-old Logano becomes youngest race-winner ever

Associated Press

June 29, 2009

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LOUDON, N.H. - - There were questions about the judgment of team owner Joe Gibbs when he decided to replace departing two-time NASCAR champion Tony Stewart with a 19-year-old rookie this season.

Even a rookie considered a phenom.

The former NFL coach, head of Joe Gibbs Racing, acknowledged Sunday that he tried not to expect too much of the talented, but woefully inexperienced, Joey Logano.

"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.

Sunday was no exception as the precocious teenager overcame a crash and a lost lap, then saved just enough fuel to earn his first Cup victory in only his 20th start.

Logano, not even allowed to begin his NASCAR career until he turned 18 in May 2008, added his latest victory to three wins in the second-tier Nationwide Series.

"Well, I figured out this sport is a roller coaster," Logano said. "One week you can win and the next week you can be 43rd."

The youngster took the lead when Ryan Newman ran out of gas on lap 264.

Four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon moved into second and was 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 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," Logano said.

The youngster gave most of the credit to crew chief Greg Zipadelli, who worked with Stewart throughout his 10 years at JGR and stayed with the team when Stewart left.

"He went for it and I was just lucky enough to be in the seat," Logano said. "It's a dream come true, that's for sure."

Zipadelli, who guided Stewart to 33 Cup victories, seemed a little stunned.

"It's crazy," he said. "Obviously, everything at the end of the day went our way."

Logano broke the record set by Kyle Busch for the youngest winner. Busch, now 24, was 20 when he won for the first time at California in September 2005.

"Obviously, it's not the way you want to win your first race, in the rain," Logano said. "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."