With his 24th place finish in the season ending NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Joey Logano clinched the 2009 Raybestos Rookie of the Year award over fellow contenders Scott Speed and Max Papis.

Logano’s achievements made him the third driver in Joe Gibbs Racing history, after Tony Stewart (1999) and Denny Hamlin (2006), to earn the Rookie of the Year honors. He is also the youngest driver in series history to earn the award.

“It’s really cool to get the Raybestos Rookie of the Year," Logano said. "It’s obviously one of our big goals.”

“I’ve got to thank The Home Depot for sticking behind me throughout the year," he continued. "We had a real rough start and finished 20th in the points, I guess is okay. In the beginning of the season if you had told me that’s where we were going to finish I’d have been ecstatic about it but now you always want better.”

Hitting many potholes at the start of the season, the young driver began to hit smoother roads as the season progressed. Earning his first career win at his home track and collecting three top-5 and seven top-10 finishes in the process, it is safe to say that Logano had a successful 2009 season.

“It was tough at times believe me. You know the media wasn’t saying the greatest things but if anything it’s more motivating. You really want to keep pushing it and become a better race car driver,” Logano said of his rough start in the Cup Series. “By no means I’m not there yet but I feel like we made big steps. The second part is figure out how you want them to drive, what part of the corner you want to work on, you know, what do you need to make these things go fast. Hopefully through the offseason here we can test a little bit and get some more seat time in these things and come better next year.”

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