The 18-year-old phenom, Joey "Sliced Bread" Logano, made his NASCAR Craftsman Trucks Series debut at Talladega Superspeedway in the No. 59 Toyota Tundra for HT Motorsports on Saturday.
Although Logano began the race from the sixth spot, his start quickly turned into a minor disaster.
On Lap 20, the second caution of the day flew when debris from Logano's truck landed on the track. The fallen debris caused his passenger-side window to become unfastened and fly off the Toyota, also landing on the track.
Logano lost three laps as his crew replaced the window with their only backup and promptly secured it with tape. NASCAR requires that the trucks at restrictor-plate tracks have a passenger-side window in place. With his window fixed, Logano made his way back onto the track just in front of the field, causing him to lose yet another lap.
But the young driver's troubles didn't end there.
Coming down the backstretch on the final lap, Logano was caught up in a multi-car crash at the back of the pack.
The No. 40 Chevrolet driven by Jeff Green collided with another truck at the bottom then swiftly shot up the racetrack, crushing Logano's Tundra and Jon Wood's Ford against the wall. No yellow flag flew and the race continued under green.
What started out as a hopeful learning experience and a highly anticipated race for both Logano and his fans ended as a slight catastrophe for the popular teenage rookie.
Then again, there's always next time for NASCAR's newest rising star as it will most likely not be his only attempt in the series.
Logano finished 26th, five laps down.
Todd "The Onion" Bodine won The Mountain Dew 250 in his No. 30 Lumber Liquidators Toyota with a last-lap pass of leader Kyle "Rowdy" Busch in the No. 51 Tundra. Busch crossed the finish line in third.
This was not Logano's first start at Talladega. The previous night, Logano participated in the ARCA RE/MAX 250, driving the No. 15 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet for Venturini Motorsports.
In that race—his second ARCA start ever (he won his first at Rockingham earlier this year)—Logano passed leader Patrick Sheltra with one to go then lost the lead on the last lap to Justin Allgaier who went on to win the race.
Logano finished second, leading 15 of the 94 laps.
13 comments Last one added 9 months ago — Leave a Comment
Mary Jo Buchanan 9 months ago
Great recap and spotlight on Logano, Julianna. I watched the ARCA race - Joey almost had it won. But I didn't get to see the truck race so appreciated your article.
Great work!
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Julianna Harrell 9 months ago
Thank you!
I almost missed the ARCA race, but I was glad I caught the re-air. I agree with you, Joey almost won there.
The Trucks Series race did not offer much excitement in my opinion, so I'll say you didn't miss much. Then again, perhaps I'm only saying that because I only watched it for Joey Logano and Kyle Busch. Logano had his problems and Busch missed out on the win.
Thanks again.
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Kara Martin 9 months ago
Welcome Julianna, great work on the first article! I look forward to reading more of your stuff. Keep it up!!
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Julianna Harrell 9 months ago
Thank you very much.
I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Thanks again!
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M Brian Ladner 9 months ago
Great work on your first article. I thought that given his equipment troubles, the race was still a success of sorts as he did gain valuable experience working in the draft. Luckily, he wasn't caught up in anything until the end, so he was able to log a lot of laps in learning how they do it in 'Dega.
Again, great first article. I look forward to the next. Five stars and a POTD. Keep up the good work.
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Julianna Harrell 9 months ago
I also was impressed with his first attempt; it was not that bad. The two major things that went wrong during the race were out of his control.
Take note that I did not write this article with my view of the race but rather a general view of the race. I bet most were disappointed with Logano's performance; most likely saying that he was again not living up to the hype.
Also, seeing that Logano was not happy with his sixth place finish in his first Nationwide start and finishing second in the ARCA race on Friday, I assumed that he would definitely not be pleased with a 26th place finish in his first Trucks start.
Thanks for the comments, the rating, the pick of the day, and all the help with editing my article. It is very much appreciated.
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S M Napier 9 months ago
Excellent article Julianna and welcome to the B/R. I totally agree with you, was disappointed by Joey's performance. Seems like when he's not in a Gibbs car he just can't do anything driving wise and really feel he's over hyped.
Now here's four young driver's , John Wesley Townley, Brian Scott, T. J. Bell and Landon Cassill to pay attention to because they are all developing into really good drivers and they outshined the "Boy Wonder" at Talladega (My nickname for Joey Logano).
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Julianna Harrell 9 months ago
Actually, S M, I was not at all disappointed with Joey's performance yesterday; I was pretty impressed.
Losing the passenger-side window was not something he could prevent; it was an equipment failure, not a driver error.
Even the wreck that he was involved in was the fault of another driver, not his. He was just simply in the wrong place at the wrong time with nowhere to go.
I wrote the article, not from my point of view, but from a general point of view of the race. Keeping mind that Logano was probably disappointed with his attempt as well.
Thanks for your comments.
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M Brian Ladner 9 months ago
i have to agree with julianna here. joey's talent wasn't ever given a real chance given the early race damage. townley, scott, bell, and cassill didn't have their side windows blow off and ruin their runs.
that's like trying to assess kyle busch's driving abilities in the first three races of the chase when mechanical problems took him out of contention, and he WAS in gibbs equipment - the same kind of equipment he's won eight cup races in, along with all the top-fives, top-tens, poles, laps led, etc.
and if i'm correct, and i am, logano won the arca race at rockingham and he led and nearly won the arca race at talladega in a venturini motorsports chevrolet, and that's not a gibbs car. and i know that he wasn't in gibbs equipment years ago when mark martin "discovered" him.
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S M Napier 9 months ago
My comments regarding the first twenty laps, were he dropped from sixth to twenty-eighth and what I've seen so far from this kid. I think he's overhyped, he's going to be another Casey Atwood and be interesting to see how he fares.
Maybe I could have worded the second paragraph differently. Brian don't get me going on my conspiracy theory on the No. 18.
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Julianna Harrell 9 months ago
Well, I personally feel that, at Talladega, it's anyone's race, S M. It doesn't matter if you're normally front runnin' or at the back of the pack at any other track; it's all about the draft here. So, Logano's fall back during those first twenty laps didn't surprise me; I didn't even think anything of it. Most drivers will end up at the back during some point in the race anyway and then they eventually make their way to the front again; as long as you have what it takes be up front at the end, that's what matters.
So I don't think it's fair to judge Logano's talents in the Trucks or the Cup series just yet. He's still learning, but I know he'll eventually get the hang of it. I also don't think Coach Gibbs would put so much faith into someone who isn't talented; if Gibbs has the faith in Joey that he'll do well in the years to come, that's definitely good enough for me.
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Kara Martin 9 months ago
Your article made it to the front page, way to go!
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Julianna Harrell 9 months ago
Thanks!
I was really surprised by that.
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