19-year-old Logano claws to 1st victory

by Mike Harris
AP Auto Racing Writer LOUDON, N.H. - Teenager Joey Logano became the youngest winner in the history of the NASCAR Sprint Cup series Sunday, winning the rain-shortened race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

The precocious 19-year-old rookie came back from a crash that put him a lap down earlier in the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 and won his first Cup race in his 20th start.

Logano was among a group of drivers who moved to the front of the field after getting out of sequence on fuel stops. The youngster took the lead when Ryan Newman, trying to stay on track as long as possible with rain threatening, ran out of gas on lap 264 in the event scheduled to go 301 laps.

Four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon moved into second and was steadily cutting into the lead as Logano, with a nearly empty gas tank, conserved as much fuel as possible.

But the rain began falling three laps later and, after NASCAR put out a red flag in hopes of drying the track, the rain began falling harder, and the race was called after 273 laps.