NASCAR’s New Blood

Joey Logano must feel like the dark skies that had been around him have parted and he can finally see the sun, as after a season that has seen the 19 year old racer ride ups and downs, he finally captured his first win of the season in a rain shortened affair at New Hampshire’s Motor Speedway at Loudon.

Joey Logano has NASCAR's greats in his sights

Nervous minutes before Joey Logano had been sitting against his No. 20 race car, trying to look cool and collected as he waited to hear if he was going to capture his first win due to the intervention of Mother Nature. The gathering crowd around Joey Logano and the No. 20 pit box was restless as the cars sat on pit road under a red flag waiting for the storm to begin, and they didn’t wait long.

Sunday was about Joey Logano though, a racer who has battled through a rookie season that has been far from easy on a racer who is probably getting use to getting there by the tough route. A young racer who earned the somewhat auspicious nickname of “Sliced Bread” for his exploits in NASCAR’s support series. Sunday’s victory marks only the fourth time in seventeen starts this season that Joey has been able to crack the top ten and what a way and place to accomplish the feat.

New Hampshire, the track where he witnessed his first Cup race as a fan, where he drove to victory in developmental series races, and the place he made his debut in the major league of racing. A humbling and frustrating 32^nd place-debut that made him realize he had a lot of work to do if he wanted to win. Sunday though was his day, his first of many to come if he has his way, but a triumphant homecoming that no one really expected, especially with his early problems in the race.

One thing for sure about this 19 year old racing fanatic, he’s going to surprise at times, and has always been a bit of a wild card. We can look forward to him providing us with amazing thrills and a few spills over his career and maybe a few years from now, we’ll be talking about him as one of the best. This is one of the best things about NASCAR; you just never know whose going to rise to the top of the ladder.

“Image: Zuma Press”