CupScene.com

(By Greg Engle)

Posted: Monday,June 29th, 2009

(By Reid Spencer,Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service)

LOUDON, N.H.—Another rainstorm. Another first-time winner.

With 28 laps remaining in Sunday’s Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, rain stopped the race and made a winner of rookie Joey Logano, much as it had done for David Reutimann in the Coca-Cola 600 in May.

Sliced Bread—Logano’s nickname, as in the best thing since—may have been soggy at the finish, but he had enough fuel left in his tank to make it to the end of pit road when NASCAR red-flagged the Sprint Cup race after Lap 273.

LENOX 301 RESULTS–>>

Logano became the youngest winner in series history at 19 years, 1 month, 4 days, more than a year sooner than Kyle Busch, who went to victory lane at California in 2005 at 20 years, 4 months, 2 days.

LOUDON, NH - JUNE 28: Joey Logano, driver of the #20 Home Depot Toyota, rides on his rims down pit road after an incident during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series LENOX Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on June 28, 2009 in Loudon, New Hampshire. (Photo by Drew Hallowell/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Stretching his fuel mileage to the limit, Logano stayed on the track and prayed that a large storm that had appeared on the radar would arrive at the 1.058-mile racetrack before he ran out of gas. After NASCAR threw a yellow flag for rain on Lap 267, Logano still had to complete six circuits under caution before the race was stopped.

Shortly thereafter, NASCAR called the race and declared Logano the winner.

Jeff Gordon, who thought he had won the race with quick work in the pits under green on Lap 235, instead finished second. Kurt Busch, who won last year’s rain-shortened Lenox 301, ran third, followed by Reutimann and Cup points leader Tony Stewart, who saw his advantage shrink to 69 points over second-place Gordon.

Ironically, it was Logano’s flat tire and a spin on Lap 182 that gave crew chief Greg Zipadelli the opportunity to make the winning call. Logano lost a lap during the incident but got it back as the “lucky dog” (free-pass car) after Scott Speed’s wreck in Turn 1 on Lap 190. Logano brought his car to pit road for tires and fuel under caution on Lap 193 while the leaders stayed out to retain track position.

“We overcame a lot,” Logano said. “We had a left rear cut down right before we made that last long green-flag run (72 laps before the final caution) and had to overcome that. When that happened, I thought we were done. I thought the day just went bad.

LOUDON, NH - JUNE 28: Joey Logano, driver of the #20 Home Depot Toyota, celebrates winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series LENOX Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on June 28, 2009 in Loudon, New Hampshire. (Photo by Drew Hallowell/Getty Images for NASCAR)

“But we just made the right move at the end. We went for it, and I was just lucky enough to be in the seat.”

Knowing Logano was short on fuel, Gordon tried to run the rookie out of gas during the final six caution laps. Logano would shut off the engine of his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota and coast, only to have Gordon pull up beside him to keep pace with the pace car.

“I was just running pace-car speed, and it allowed me to get to the outside of him and make him start his engine and use some fuel, and he didn’t like that,” Gordon said. “So he moved up so I couldn’t get to the outside, so I just went to the inside.

“I didn’t want to push him, and I didn’t want to back off, because that was our only shot—for him to run out of fuel.”

Stewart, who drove the previous 10 seasons in Gibbs’ No. 20 with Zipadelli as his crew chief, had the dominant car in the 2008 race at New Hampshire but was the victim of Busch’s good fortune.

“Yeah, I’m happy for Zippy and Joey and all the guys on The Home Depot team,” Stewart said. “Man, you take ’em any way you can get ’em. That’s as much a strategy as shocks and springs and everything else. They still had to work to get themselves in that position, so they did a good job.”

Notes: Logano used two lucky dogs and a wave-around under NASCAR’s new double-file restart format to stay on the lead lap and position himself for the win. … The battle for the final positions in the 12-driver Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup tightened considerably. Positions 10-14 (Matt Kenseth, Mark Martin, Juan Pablo Montoya, Kasey Kahne and Reutimann, respectively) are covered by a spread of 17 points. Montoya (12th Sunday) held on to the 12th spot by one point over Kahne, who finished 10th. … The fabrication shop at Richard Childress Racing faces a busy week after a Lap 175 wreck damaged the cars of RCR drivers Jeff Burton, Kevin Harvick and Casey Mears. Mears was able to stay on the lead lap and finished 11th. After repairs in the garage, Burton returned to finish 31st and Harvick 34th.