Like It or Not... Joey Logano Gets His First Career Sprint Cup Victory

I am back from my long weekend out in the Arizona desert. My cousins and I all had a great time; we went to a waterpark, saw a movie, and climbed a couple of mountains. In the midst of all the action, I even managed to see the last 50 laps of the rain-shortened race. Since I do not have the knowledge to write my usual bullets, I am just going to talk about the part I did see, Joey Logano getting his first career Sprint Cup victory.

Whether we like it or not, it is a legitimate win in the NASCAR record books. We can debate all day about whether he was lucky or good. Here's what I am going to say: Joey Logano was lucky; Greg Zippadelli was good.

This right here is an example of why having a veteran crew chief makes all the difference. Because he knew that the rain was on the way, Zippadelli made the gutsy call for Logano to stay out even though he could possibly run out of fuel. He probably thought back to how David Reutimann won the Coca-Cola 600 that very way. And most importantly of all, he knew that nine times out of ten when rain starts after the race gets to halfway, it is called.

This is another case of the best car not always winning the race. Tony Stewart dominated from the drop of the green flag but lost the race because the rain did not play in his favor.

I would have loved to see the race go green to the end. I have to believe though that NASCAR made the right decision once again to call it a day. It was mainly so the fans didn't have to sit out in the downpour all evening long when the race might not even resume. I like it that NASCAR is really trying extra hard this season to put its fans first and do what is best for them. Just think back to what they put them through in the February 2008 Fontana race...

The question I have to pose to Mike Helton and the NASCAR board is why do we go to Loudon in late June when it has been rain-shortened now for two consecutive years??? To me, this is another example of NASCAR's poor scheduling. Maybe NASCAR and the Weather Channel need to sit down and have a little conference...

There have so many surprises this year, from three first-time winners to horrific accidents to crew chief changes to Mark Martin having three victories, etc. So far, I think this has been one of best seasons in a very long time. Let's just hope it stays this way...

Last but definitely not least, I want to thank all of my fellow bloggers who have wished me a happy birthday and especially Hanahan for writing the nice story. There are so many great people in this NASCAR community, people who support one another year round...