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NASCAR: Joey Logano becomes youngest winner in Cup Series history (+photos)

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Khatir Soltani
From nascar.com

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.

Joey Logano

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.

"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 overcame a lot Sunday such as tires down and more issues than you can imagine."

Logano became the youngest winner in Cup Series history at 19 years, 1 month, 4 days, more than a year sooner than Kyle Busch, who went to Victory Lane at Fontana in 2005 at 20 years, 4 months, 2 days.

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 oval before he ran out of gas. After NASCAR threw a yellow flag for rain on lap 267, Logano still had to complete six laps under caution before the race was stopped.

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

"My crew chief Greg 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."


photo:Philippe Champoux - Auto123.com
Khatir Soltani
Khatir Soltani
Automotive expert
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