DOVER, Del. (Sept. 21, 2007) – Joey Logano, piloting his Joe Gibbs Driven Chevrolet, finished second in Friday's Sunoco 150 at Dover International Speedway, but became the NASCAR Busch East Series’ first rookie champion.
Sean Caisse took the lead from Logano with just eight laps remaining, then withstood a final charge by the rookie to win by a car length.
Pole winner Jeffrey Earnhardt gained new northern fans and turned heads with a contending run to finish third. It was the 18-year-old Earnhardt’s best finish of the season and his fourth top-five over the last six races.
Jesus Hernandez placed fourth, followed by Tim McCreadie.
By virtue of NASCAR’s lower age limit of 16 starting this year for its touring series, Logano is also the series youngest champion. Logano turned 17 on May 24. His base second-place prize money of $9,361 pushed his season race winnings to $100,786.
Logano, hired as a development driver by Joe Gibbs Racing for the 2007 season, revealed uncommon talent by leading the series point standings all but one week during the season's early going, and drove to five wins and 10 top-five finishes in 13 races. That set a record for races won by a rookie. The previous record was two-win seasons by three different rookie drivers.
Logano praised his teammates in sharing the title.
“My crew chief, Mike Sibley, is one of the greatest out there,” Logano said. “Everyone on the team has worked so hard, and it paid off. Every time we went to the race track we had a chance to win. But there are 10 teams who could win every single week. The NASCAR Busch East Series has great competition.”
Chase Austin posted his rookie season’s best finish of sixth followed by Marc Davis, Steve Park, Peyton Sellers and Max Dumarey, respectively.
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09-21-2007, 11:57 PM
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