IRWINDALE, California -- "Go west, young man, go west." That was the sage advice by New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley (1811-1872). Joey Logano, a 17-year old auto racing phenomenon from Middletown, CT, followed Greeley's recommendation. He came to California for the first time to compete in the prestigious 5th annual Toyota All-Star Showdown on the progressively banked, half-mile Irwindale Speedway. The youngest champion in NASCAR Grand National Division history crowned his sensational rookie season with his most significant racing triumph in front of approximately 4,000 spectators and television viewers of the three-plus hour live telecast on Speed Channel. Cup champion/Fox TV racing analyst Darrell Waltrip served as the Showdown Grand Marshall.
Logano, the 2007 Busch East Series champion and rookie of the year, won his seventh NASCAR Grand National main event as a Joe Gibbs Racing driver development competitor in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Chevrolet. He set second fastest qualifying time in a field of 51, started second in a 40-car field, and took the lead on lap 164 of the 250-lap race. The event had full-field mandatory pit stops after laps 100 and 200 at the infield pits located around the third-mile track. Logano, the fourth race leader, led the final 86 laps. He withstood a lap 249 tap exiting the fourth turn. Peyton Sellers, a 2007 Busch East driver and 2006 GN West Richard Childress Racing development driver for Bill McAnally Racing, applied the lap 249 tap that tested Logano's resolve to win as they raced towards the white flag.
Logano edged Sellers No. 83 Strutmasters.com Chevy by 0.337 in a 2:02.53.109-timed race. The winner averaged 61.150-mph and ran the fastest lap of the race at 18.653. (The fastest qualifying time Friday was 18.271 (98.517 mph). Thirteen caution flags for wrecks, debris and oil clean-up work consumed 61 laps. Logano earned his career-high $33,284 including contingency awards from the $467,980 two day Showdown purse. Logano also received use of a Toyota truck for a year. Ninth starter Sellers, from Danville, VA, collected $22,684 for his team. Mike Duncan, from Bakersfield, was the highest finishing GN West driver. He started and finished third in his No. 9 Lucas Oil Chevy. He trailed winner Logano by 0.712 of a second and earned $17,000. Busch East drivers took fourth and fifth. Matt Kobyluck, the 2006 Showdown GN winner, came from sixth to place fourth; Eddie MacDonald, from tenth, finished fifth. They won $16,184 and $13,530 respectively. Brian Ickler, from fifth, Eric Holmes, from 25th, Mike Olsen, from 28th, John Salemi, from 33rd, and David Mayhew, from 13th, completed the top ten. There were 28 of 40 starters still racing at the checkered flag and 18 drivers completed all 250 laps.
Logano executed a long, in-place burnout on the front straight to celebrate his victory before he spoke to the crowd via the pit announcer's microphone. "I have a lot of confidence and that's what it takes to win races. My team is a major part of it. I was tight at the beginning and that's why I fell back early," Logano stated. He was fifth at lap 70 and at the lap 100-pit break. Logano's patience and adjustments at the break enabled him to climb back to third place by lap 120 when he was part of a five-car lead pack. Logano took second from Kobyluck on lap 135 with an inside pass in the second turn, but he yielded second to Ickler on lap 152 as the leaders overtook four slower cars battling for positions.
Both Ickler and Logano passed leader Duncan on the inside in turn two as the three leaders lapped slower cars. Logano used the first lap after a lap 159-163 caution to charge into the lead for the first time on lap 164 by going to the outside groove. It took him almost a full lap to pass Ickler. The fast-rising youngster, who has been praised by Nextel Cup driver Mark Martin, extended his advantage to ten-yards. Lap 177-184 and 190-197 cautions kept his pursuers close to him. At the lap 201 green flag following the full field pit break (for fuel, the second set of tires and adjustments). Logano took the outside groove and opened a 40-yard lead over Sellers in the inside groove. Then a lap 232-237 caution to check for debris came after a car bounced off a wall. At the lap 238 green flag Antonio Perez, from Mexico City, spun out to the backstretch infield and restarted. The lap 238-243 yellow flag set up the final chase to the checkers.
At the lap 244 green flag 13th place Andrew Myers spun low to high entering the third turn and collected fellow GN West driver Brett Thompson. Lap 244-246 were run under caution and then a red flag ensued as both cars were towed to the pits. A green, white, checkers finish enabled Sellers, who celebrated his 24th birthday Saturday, to make one final passing attempt on lap 249. He nudged the left rear of Logano's car when they exited turn four. Sellers told the media, "The turn four bump was for show. I wasn't going to wreck him. Guys work too hard on these cars. I had nothing for him." Logano became the first Grand National Champion to win the GN Showdown in his championship season. He also became the first GN rookie to win "the Daytona 500 of the NASCAR Development Series". GN West team drivers scored 1,554 points and beat the Busch East team, which tallied 1,380 points. The top 13 finishing drivers from East and West teams were eligible for the team bonus portion of the combined two-day Showdown purse posted by Toyota. Members of the winning West team split $30,000 evenly, while the East team members split $15,000 evenly.
The fastest 25 qualifiers started the 250-lap feature straight-up with the quickest qualifier on the pole. NASCAR series champions and 2007 GN race winners had protected spots in the starting field, but they had to qualify on Friday for positions on the starting grid. Andrew Ranger, a 20-year old stock car rookie from Quebec and a 2005-06 Champ Car World Series top ten driver, was the champion of the 2007 Canadian Tire (stock car) Series presented by Sirius. He arranged for a GN ride and had the 26th starting position. The four highest 2007 point drivers in the GN West and Busch East series not yet in the field earned the next eight provisional starting positions (28-34). The final six positions in the 250 lap race went to the first six finishers in a 50-lap qualifier Open Race run Friday night on the first day of the two-day telecast.
Speed television coverage began Saturday at 7:00 with driver introductions, explanation of the Showdown format, and setting the lineup. A Toyota Tundra pace-truck led the 40-car field to the starting line for the first lap green flag at 7:34 p.m PDT. There were three lead changes among four drivers. Fastest qualifier/pole starter Sean Caisse, from Pelham, N.H, shot into the lead over Duncan, Logano, Ickler and Logano's teammate Marc Davis, a Mitchelville, MD 17-year old development driver in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Chevy. Davis was the fourth fastest qualifier Friday on his first visit to Irwindale Speedway. The first caution flew on lap 12 to check for debris after 17th starter Jeff Barkshire bounced of a wall and continued to his pit in the infield for repairs. At lap 25 Caisse, in Andy Santerre's Casella Waste Systems Chevy, led Duncan, Ickler (in McAnally's NAPA Chevy), Logano, Sellers, Kobyluck, MacDonald, Nick Lynch, Stephen Berry and Thompson.
A six-car crash in turn three on lap 29 kept the yellow flag out through lap 38. Ranger, Ryan Philpott, Michelle Theriault, Jim Inglebright, Moses Smith and Perez were involved. Theriault was transported by ambulance to a nearby hospital for evaluation. She was discharged before the race concluded. On lap 43 the cars of Berry, Justin Lofton and Tim Woods III collided and the yellow flag prevailed through lap 48. Caisse built a 20-yard lead over Duncan by lap 71 when they began lapping a group of cars. On lap 74 Caisse lapped Moses Smith. Leaving turn four, Smith got into the back of Caisse's No. 44 Chevy, which spun across the staring line and hit inside front straight K-rail concrete walls protecting the pits. Caisse's car hit the wall heavily at the RF and RR corners and stopped. He drove to the infield pits and retired the car with damage too severe to continue. When interviewed on TV, car owner Santerre and Caisse remarkably remained composed despite their severe disappointment.
Duncan inherited the lead with Caisse's departure and led lap 75-81 under caution. The green flag flew on lap 82 and he opened a 15-yard lead over fellow GN West driver Ickler by the lap 100 pit break for all. Third place Kobyluck led Sellers, Logano, MacDonald, Eric Richardson, Lynch, Mayhew, Jamie Hayes, Johnny Borneman III, Holmes, GN West 2007 champion Mike David, Salemi and Thompson in the top 15 positions. The West and East series both had five drivers in the top ten positions. Twenty-nine cars were still on the lead lap. Duncan led to lap 110 when seventh place Lynch spun across the start/finish line into the infield K-rail wall. The green flag flew again on lap 117 and Duncan led Kobyluck , Logano, Sellers, MacDonald and Richardson as Ickler experienced a problem and fell from second to seventh. By lap 135 Duncan led by 30-yards when Logano took second from Kobyluck with an inside pass in turn two. By lap 150 inside-running Logano had cut outside-running Duncan's lead to a car length as they lapped Perez and Lofton, who drove wounded cars that continued without hoods and front body-work.
Ickler moved up to third position on lap 145 when he passed Kobyluck on the inside. The top three drivers lapped cars until lap 155 when slower cars briefly trapped leader Duncan. Both Logano and Ickler passed Duncan and Ickler moved from third to first place. Lapped Moses Smith, driving a TV camera car, brought out a 16-minute red flag on lap 157 when he hit the first turn outside wall attenuator at the pit entrance. He was uninjured but the attenuator required repair as his car was towed to the pits. Caution laps followed from lap 159-163. At the lap 164 green Logano passed Ickler on the outside and paced the rest of the race. Lynch slowed and parked in the first turn infield grass for a lap 177-184 caution with 31 of 40 starters still circulating. Kobyluck passed Ickler on lap 185 for second and Ickler slowed with a deflating tire on lap 187, losing a lap when he pitted for a replacement. A three-car crash brought out the caution flag for lap 190-197 after Eric Hardin spun in the second turn and Philpott and Chris Bristol became involved.
Three green flag laps brought the field to the second mandatory seven-minutes of actual pit work for all cars. Teams installed their second of two allowable sets of tires and refueled. The top 15 in order were: Logano, Sellers, Duncan, MacDonald, Holmes, Thompson, David, Mike Olsen, Richardson, Mayhew, Salemi, Jason Bowles, Andrew Myers, Rogelio Lopez, from Mexico, and Borneman. Twenty drivers were still on the lead lap after Ickler became the beneficiary or "lucky dog" and was motioned around the pace truck. Logano led lap 201 and extended his lead to 40-yards before a debris-caution on lap 232 brought the field back to his back bumper. When the green flag flew on lap 238 Perez spun on the backstretch. The track went green again on lap 244 and the Myers-Thompson crash at the turn three wall consumed three laps before the red flag came out for 11-minutes. Logano held his advantage during the final two laps. He enjoyed his victory as an aerial fireworks show from beyond the backstretch saluted his impressive triumph.
The top three finishers came to the crowded press box next to Race Control 15 minutes after the checkered flag. Winner Logano, who has been compared favorably in driving talent to a teenage Jeff Gordon, the four-time NASCAR Cup champion, spoke in a low-tone as though his victory had not sunk in yet. "I was concerned about the double-file restarts. I learned a lot this year. This win tops it all off. It's as good as it gets. My car was free off the corners early so we tightened it up on the break," he said. When asked what changes were made, the winner replied, "They don't tell me." Logano said he will turn 18 on May 24 and will race full-time after that date in the second-tier Busch Series for Gibbs Racing. Asked how he liked the Irwindale track, Logano said, " I really like it. It's best to run on the outside, but Ickler was strong on the bottom. It was a pretty exciting race to me," he added before being hustled away for winning team photos.
Runner-up Sellers was asked about winner Logano. "I raced against Joey all year. I wondered if it was his equipment. I've raced him all year and he is really good. He's doing a really good job. He's patient and has a good enough car to be patient with," Sellers said. He said his own racing plans for next year are not determined yet. "NASCAR teams at Martinsville (VA) this weekend were watching this race on TV and looking for drivers to bring up to one of the top three national circuits," Sellers added hopefully. Third place Duncan agreed that Logano is patient, but added, "Things will be different when he steps up to the next level. Things will be more even then." Duncan added, "My crew chief is chasing the East Coast technology. We're getting closer. We're on the right track." Duncan said Lucas Oil sponsorship is leaving his team and he is seeking a new sponsor for 2008.
Feature Finish: (250 laps): Joey Logano, Peyton Sellers, Mike Duncan, Matt Kobyluck, Eddie MacDonald, Brian Ickler, Eric Holmes, Mike Olsen, John Salemi, David Mayhew, Eric Richardson, Jason Bowles, Rogelio Lopez, Mike David, Johnny Borneman III, Jim Inglebright, Daryl Harr, Jamie Hayes, Ben Walker, Alex Haase, Greg Pursley, Eric Hardin, Andrew Myers, Brett Thompson, Ryan Foster, Woody Pitkat, Marc Davis, Justin Lofton, Mike Johnson, Chris Bristol, Antonio Perez, Nick Lynch, Moses Smith, Tim Woods III, Ryan Philpott, Sean Caisse, Jeff Barkshire, Stephen Berry, Andrew Ranger, Michelle Theriault
