NASCAR Rookie Logano Thanks Fans, Learns A Lot at All-Star Race

Rookie Joey Logano, who finished ninth after leading 19 laps two weeks ago at the Southern 500 at Darlington, appeared to be on a momentum-gaining streak as he headed into the All-Star weekend.

And that streak only gained steam as Logano won the fan vote to advance into the All-Star Race on Saturday, leading him to an eighth-place, lead lap finish.

That’s an additional 140 laps that Logano earned this weekend. Logano, who had to rely on the fans to vote him into the All-Star Race after failing to finish in the top-two of the Showdown, said he was very thankful that the fans voted him into the race.

“I had a blast...I thought it was a ton of fun,” said an elated Logano after he race. “I was so thankful to get in the race by the fans, that was really cool to have that. I’m just excited. That was probably the most fun I’ve had in a race car in a while. Certain things I do and certain things I don’t, but that was a really fun race.”

The additional seat time also provided Logano and valuable learning experience as well.

“I learned a lot about restarts and I was giving up a lot on restarts so I figured out what I was doing wrong there,” Logano said. “I think those last 10 laps were crazy. It was just so much fun and I thought there was going to be big junk everywhere. There wasn’t but there was still some hitting and stuff and it was fun.”

Logano, who still sits 30th in Sprint Cup Series owner points after the non-points weekend, is starting to fight his way back up out of the danger zone, and is beginning to become a contender each weekend.

That could spell problems down the road for the Sprint Cup Series’s finest drivers.