When Joey Logano made the jump to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series full-time in 2009, many figured the young hot-shoe would find success right away. Taking the reins of the famous No. 20 Home Depot car, Logano stumbled out of the gate as he got acquainted to the big leagues.

Sunday at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Logano and the No. 20 team did not have the best car in the field, but with rains approaching and the leaders hitting pit road for fuel, crew chief Greg Zipadelli rolled the dice and kept their driver on the track. Taking the lead on Lap 263, Logano continued to click away laps out front as he kept one eye on the fuel gage and another on the skies.

With less than twenty laps remaining the skies opened up bringing out the caution flag. Coasting around under caution, Zipadelli told his driver he had only three-five laps under caution before running out of fuel. Luckily for the Connecticut-native, NASCAR threw the red flag and brought the cars to pit road. The rain refused to let up and before long the race was called, giving Logano his first career victory.

The day was definitely not an easy one for Logano and his team. After starting from the 24th-spot, Logano fought the handling of the car and traffic throughout much of the afternoon. Racing hard with David Reutimann and Ryan Newman, Logano bounced off the other two cars as they exited the second turn. The No. 20 Home Depot Toyota cut its left rear tire, sending a shower of sparks and forcing Logano to pit road. Before he could make it to the service of his crew, the young driver looped the No. 20 to bring out the ninth caution of the day on Lap 194.

Scoring his first career Cup Series victory, Logano broke teammate Kyle Busch’s record to become the youngest race winner in series history. The 19-year-old also became the eleventh different winner in 2009 and the third to earn his first career victory.

“You know, we pretty much - we didn't take off as good as we needed to,” Logano said after scoring his first career Cup Series victory. “I think it's just me still lost out there trying to figure out where I needed to be.  We overcame a lot.

“We had a left rear cut down right before we made that last long green flag run and just trying to overcome that.  When that happened, I thought we were done,” Logano admitted. “ I was like, the day just went bad, just try to finish it off and get as best finish we can and we made the right move at the end.  [Greg Zipadelli] went for it and I was just lucky enough to be in the seat.”

Zipadelli added, “It was a crazy day like Joey said, but half of this sport is about putting yourself in position to have a chance to win on Sunday afternoon, and you know, that's what we did today and everything went our way.  It's nothing more than that.”

Much of Sunday’s Lenox Industrial Tools 301 was dominated by four-time Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon. The driver of the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet led sixty-five laps but with Logano staying out, Gordon was forced to settle with a second-place finish.

Sitting on pit road before the race was called, Gordon made his way to Logano’s car to congratulate the young driver.

“He didn't want me to jinx him because he didn't think it was over yet but it was pouring down rain, and I was pretty sure it was over,” Gordon explained. “I said, ‘Great job and great call.’”  

Last year’s winner Kurt Busch was strong once again on Sunday, leading a total of 27 laps. The driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge battled with Gordon throughout the day and in the end finished in third with Gordon filling up his windshield.

“Overall, last year, to drive into victory lane and do it in a rain shortened race and today to have it where we were fast enough to win and not get the win, you know, that's how this sport evens itself out,” Busch said following the race. “You have your good and your bad luck, and overall it was a great run for the Miller Lite Dodge.”

With a total of eleven cautions on the day, the double-file restart policy was put to the test early and often at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Each restart brought more excitement to the race and saw two- , and at times, three-wide racing at the front of the pack.

Restarting the race on Lap 175, Dale Earnhardt Jr. lined up on the inside line but spun the tires coming to the green. When the No. 88 failed to take off as everyone expected, the field stacked up behind him. Kyle Busch looked to take advantage of the situation, but in making his move the No. 18 made contact with the No. 1 of Martin Truex Jr. The Earnhardt Ganassi Racing driver was sent down to the inside of the track, where Jeff Burton was driving low to avoid the pile-up. With nowhere to go, Burton drove head-on into Truex and then the two slid up the track, collecting Kevin Harvick, Brian Vickers, Casey Mears, David Reutimann and David Ragan which led to the race’s first red flag.

"I'm not sure what happened in front of us, either the No. 88 (Earnhardt Jr.) or the No. 2 (Kurt Busch) spun the tires, I'm not sure who it was,” a frustrated Truex said after the incident. “But I was just, you know, staying in line doing what I could do to get going and obviously you can't pass before the start/finish line. And I guess Kyle (Busch) just decided he didn't want to lift, so I was just an innocent victim today. Someone spun the tires and our lane didn’t go. Kyle just lost his head like he usually does when something bad happens. He decided he wasn’t going to lift; he was going to turn me on the straightaway for no good reason at all. We have a tore up race car.”

David Reutimann overcame being involved in the incident to come home in the third. Points leader Tony Stewart led 40 laps on the day and ended in the fifth-spot.

The Lenox Industrial Tools 301 was cut short by rain on Lap 273. The event saw eleven caution flags for a total of 47 laps. There were twenty-three lead changes amongst fourteen different drivers. Next week the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series makes its way to the Daytona International Speedway for the annual Fourth of July 400-miler.

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