Joe Gibbs Racing rookie Joey Logano wins rain-shortened New Hampshire Cup race
Joe Gibbs Racing driver Joey Logano scored his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory Sunday in the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
// David Griffin, NASCAR Scene
LOUDON, N.H. – A tire problem that sent Joey Logano spinning in Sunday’s Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway turned out to be the unlikely recipe for his first NASCAR Sprint Cup victory as rain shortened the race.
Logano, who spun alone on lap 182 because of a flat left-front tire, recovered to win by stretching his fuel and staying on track when most of the other lead-lap cars made their final stops under green in the closing laps. Logano became the series' youngest winner in history with his victory at 19 years, one month and four days.
Logano was going to need to pit for fuel in about another five laps when rain began falling and NASCAR red-flagged the event 28 laps shy of the scheduled distance.
The rain kept coming, the race never restarted, and Logano had his first win in his 20th career Cup start.
“We overcame a lot today,” said Logano, a native of Middletown, Conn., who considers New Hampshire his home track. “This is really cool.”
Hendrick Motorsports’ Jeff Gordon, who was first among the drivers who pitted late, finished second followed by Penske Racing’s Kurt Busch, Michael Waltrip Racing’s David Reutimann and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Tony Stewart.
Not everyone was as fortunate as Logano.
Two multicar accidents highlighted an accident-plagued event that featured 11 cautions, including three for solo spins by Patrick Carpentier, Jamie McMurray and AJ Allmendinger, respectively, in the first 28 laps.
The second big wreck was the worst of the two.
After the cars in front of him were slow to get up to speed, Earnhardt Ganassi Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. was tagged by Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch on a lap-175 restart and went spinning in front of most of the pack at the end of the frontstretch.
McMurray, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton, Casey Mears, Reutimann, Brian Vickers and David Ragan all got a piece of the fracas, which forced a 12-minute, 48-second red-flag flag period for cleanup.
Truex, who was running inside the top 10, had to check up on the restart when Dale Earnhardt Jr. spun his tires just ahead, but blamed Busch for setting the melee in motion.
“Kyle just lost his head like he usually does when something bad happens,” Truex said. “So he just decided he wasn’t going to lift, he was going to turn me on the straightaway for no reason at all, and we’ve got a tore up race car.”
Vickers also pointed the finger at Busch.
“It looked like the 18 [of Busch] was just completely impatient – very normal,” Vickers said. “[He] just hooked the 1 [car of Truex Jr.] in the right rear and turned him in front of the field.”
The other major accident occurred earlier – on lap 59 – when a nudge from Red Bull Racing’s Scott Speed sent Michael Waltrip Racing’s Michael Waltrip spinning in Turn 2 and collected Robby Gordon, Elliott Sadler and Paul Menard.
The lead changed hands eight times in the opening 50 laps as Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Kurt Busch all took turns on the point.
The other driver who took an extended stay out front was polesitter Stewart.
Stewart, who started the race in a backup car, fell to fourth on the opening lap and continued to lose positions before stopping for adjustments under an early yellow flag. But he rallied back into contention and led before losing a couple spots during a slow final pit stop.
Stewart remained the series points leader, holding a 69-point edge over Gordon.
