Full Throttle

If Mark Martin could buy stock in Joey Logano’s future, he would. After Saturday night, more than 4,000 spectators at Mansfield Motorsports Speedway would like to as well. Count me in, too.

“He is the man,” the NASCAR legend said a week ago.

No, he is the boy. But boy can he drive.

“I am high on Joey Logano because I am absolutely, 100 percent positive, without a doubt, that he can be one of the greatest that ever raced in NASCAR,” Martin gushed. “I’m positive. There’s no doubt in my mind. I know it.

“I’ve watched him race, and there’s no question about it. I’m more sure of it than I was sure of Matt Kenseth. I’m more sure of it than anybody I’ve ever seen turn a wheel.”

Just a few weeks past his 15th birthday, Logano showed he wasn’t a product of hype.

He proved Martin wasn’t full of hot exhaust when he said he wants Logano to one day drive the No. 6 Nextel Cup car he’ll give up at the end of the season.

In the span of two hours during the Mansfield 250, Logano went from prodigy to phenom.

It was only his second time in the Ford Taurus, and he beat some of the best short track stock car racers in the country. He did it like a pro’s pro. While the veterans of the USAR Hooters ProCup Series (he broke Brian Vickers record as the youngest ProCup winner) were rag-tagging one another into oblivion, it was the rookie who stayed clean and avoided trouble.

Guys who have raced longer than Logano’s been alive may have lost their patience, then their cools and their minds, before finally losing their race cars. Not Logano.

He took what his car was giving and bided his time.

“He did a really good job, and I give him credit,” fourth-place finisher Mardy Lindley said. “It takes a lot to have a car that good at the end of a race. I want to congratulate the heck out of him. He’s got a bright future ahead of him.”

Two-time Mansfield winner Benny Gordon took himself out of contention because of rough driving, and Shane Huffman did the same. Veterans like Michael Ritch and Eric Corbett found the wall. Shelby Howard and Jimmy Spencer Jr. had adventurous outings as did Clay Rogers and Shane Huffman. Jeff Agnew may have won if he wouldn’t have been spun out with 23 laps to go.

But race wins aren’t always about having the fastest car. Like Saturday night, they’re as much about avoiding the carnage brought on by 15 caution flags.

Logano admitted he didn’t have the best car, saying he was only 10th during practice and sixth in qualifying.

“We fell back at first, but I was lucky enough to dodge some of the spin-outs and cautions,” he said.

Once he found himself on the point, Logano knew what to do with it. He easily led the next 21 laps until a yellow flew on lap 248 bringing about a green-white-checker finish for fans who refused to sit down. They knew they were about to see something special.

“I saw that (last caution) and said, ‘That bites.’ We had a four-car-length lead there. We had a decent start, and I beat (Lindley) in that corner. I looked in my mirrors more than I looked in front of me,” Logano said.

He crossed the line first, leaving the final-lap mayhem behind. In doing so, he beat Brian Vickers’ Hooters ProCup record as youngest race winner by a year.

“He drove a helluva race,” second-place finisher Mike Laughlin Jr. said. “Pressure-wise, he didn’t pay attention to it. We didn’t have anything for him. The boy done good.”

His father Tom, a friend of Martin’s, said he was amazed by his son’s breakthrough victory.

“Mark always said he could do it. I’m pretty conservative by nature, so I had to see it to believe it,” Tom Logano said.

His mother Debra was equally shocked to be standing in the winner’s circle so soon into his career.

“Words cannot explain how proud I am. It’s a very special day,” she said.

The kid looked as out of place in the victory ceremonies as a pair of brown shoes with a tuxedo. He’s at least a year away from shaving and his voice is still a boy’s soprano, and here he is stuck between a bunch of Hooters waitresses and holding a bottle of champagne.

Out of place or not, it’s evident he enjoyed the scene. He couldn’t have stopped smiling on a bet.

And chances are he’ll be smiling a lot more. You can put stock in that.

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Joey Logano, Mark Martin, NASCAR, NEXTEL Cup, Sports, Auto Racing, Motorsports, Full Throttle