Going into Saturday’s Southern 500 at the Darlington Raceway, many wondered how rookie contender Joey Logano would fair in his first trip to the track ‘Too Tough To Tame.’ The 18-year-old hot-shoe had spent some time at the Lady In Black about a month ago with legendary veteran Cale Yarborough. Whatever Cale taught the kid they call ‘Sliced Bread’ must have paid off, because he not only survived his first Darlington race, he excelled.

After posting a surprising qualifying lap fast enough for the fifth-spot, Logano appeared confident in his chances. While veterans such as Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson and Greg Biffle earned their Darlington Stripe, Logano was able to keep his car clean all weekend long.

Running at the front of the field for the majority of the event, Logano took his No. 20 Home Depot Toyota to the top of the leaderboard when he beat everyone out of the pits on Lap 278.

Leading the next nineteen laps, Logano gave up the top-spot in the pits and slid back to the ninth-spot where he ended the evening. Still, not too bad for a kid’s first time at one of NASCAR’s most historic tracks.

“I felt like I learned a lot for next time I come here, what I want in a racecar, more than what I had,” Logano said following Saturday night’s 500-mile event. “I was very happy with the way we ran.  I led laps in the Southern 500, I was stoked about that, I was all excited.”

“I think it’s huge for all of us,” crew chief Greg Zipadelli added. “I think it’s big for Joe Gibbs Racing, I think it’s huge for Joey. Everybody did a good job, just proud of everybody this weekend. Everybody stepped up. Pit stops were awesome. His qualifying effort was huge. And those little things that you learn and you realize how important things are.”

Logano’s success Saturday night even drew the respect of the driver that occupied his seat for ten years.

“This kid did an awesome job tonight,” Tony Stewart said of Logano. “First time here in a Cup car at Darlington, and this kid just did a great job.  It was fun watching the 20 car up there.  When he was leading the race I was smiling because I knew those guys have been waiting for this for a couple weeks now.  It's just a matter of time before Joey got going.”

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver scored his second top-10 of the season and jumped two spots in the series standings to 30th.

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