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RGeeProductions
05-21-2007, 11:57 PM
Logano Now Three-For-Four after Beating Harvick for Iowa Victory
Joe Gibbs Racing Development Driver Almost Wins At Elko before Late Spin

On Saturday night, a bunch of current NASCAR Nextel Cup All Stars tried – and failed – to beat Kevin Harvick at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. On Sunday afternoon, one of NASCAR’s future stars, one not even old enough to race in Nextel Cup right now, was able to knock Harvick back to second place.

If anyone ever doubted that Joey Logano was on the fast-track to being one of NASCAR’s biggest stars, he did nothing to disprove it this weekend. Logano won the Featherlite Coaches 200 at the brand-new Iowa Speedway on Sunday afternoon, beating ringer Harvick and the rest of the Busch East and West Divisions’ best drivers in the second of two Busch East-West Series combo races run this weekend.

“I really think we should be four-for-four, but that is the way it goes sometimes,” said the 16-year-old Logano. “It was a pretty good weekend either way. We were fast enough to win Elko, and we were fast enough to win at Iowa . Everywhere we go, we’ve been fast enough to win. That is all you can really ask for I guess. I’m pretty happy.”

After starting second, Logano and Harvick traded the lead at Iowa a remarkable 14 times between the two. Logano took the lead from Harvick for the final time with just six laps to go and pulled out to a two and one-half second lead at the finish of the event.

“Wow, I know we swapped the lead a lot, but that is pretty impressive. He wanted to run the top and I wanted to run the bottom. I was able to make my car work up top, too. It worked well for me both ways. The last restart is where it counted. I was starting on the outside, he was on the inside. He was getting an awesome run through the first turn every time.

“I just drove it deep into turn one – until I got scared – and then stabbed the gas and got back on it. We came off the corner door-to-door, but I had the momentum and was able to clear him. It was really fun racing him, especially after the night he had on Saturday night. Since he just won a million dollars, beating him is pretty cool.”

Logano, who will turn 17 in just a few days, has now won three of four NASCAR Grand National Division races he has entered this season. Logano won in his NASCAR debut, which came at Phoenix International Raceway, a West Series event. Then Logano backed that up by winning the Busch East Series opener at Greenville-Pickens Speedway in late-April.

“I am not too surprised that we are running this good. I know when we go out there that we are fast enough to win races. It’s when we don’t win races that I get really mad at myself. I know it’s really hard to win, though, and it’s not easy to come by. We’ve come this far, so I think we can continue running the way we are. My confidence is up and the team’s confidence is up. We’ve got momentum on our side right now.”

Logano’s win followed a 19th-place finish in Friday night’s Minnesota 150 at Elko Speedway, a race in which Logano ran as high as second much of the night. While battling for second with less than 10 laps to go, he made a charge through the field before a late-race spin forced him to a mid-pack finish.

“Early in the race, I got into the back of the 83 (Peyton Sellers),” added Logano. “It was my fault. Everything bottled up and I got into him. So NASCAR put me in the back, and I had to come all the way back up through the field.

“We didn't give up. I just wheeled it back up there. No matter where I'm at, I'm going for the win. It was not a good points’ night, obviously, but we almost salvaged a bad night into a good night and we went back to a bad night.

“No doubt (we had a chance for the win). We came from last to second. We were passing cars left and right. The car was great, and everyone did a great job. This place is an awesome, awesome racetrack. You can run anywhere. Some guys were running top, bottom, and even three-wide.

Joey will be back in action on June 2nd at South Boston Speedway in Busch East Series competition.

Jeremy Troiano, 51 Sports