SPARTA, Ky. — Joey Logano turned 18 May 24, making him eligible for   NASCAR competition. A week later, he made one of the most hyped debuts in Nationwide Series history at Dover Int’l Speedway driving for Joe Gibbs Racing.
On Saturday at Kentucky Speedway, in only his third series start, Logano lived up to the billing, winning the Meijer  300.
He became the youngest driver in Nationwide Series history to visit victory lane at 18 years and 21 days, besting Casey Atwood, who won at The Milwaukee Mile in 1999 at 18 years and 10 months.
“I expected to win Dover. It was cool to get our first win here in the third start. Obviously, I was getting in one of the best cars out there that has won seven races. I have to win races. It’s not even an option,” Logano said. “To get here and get our second pole and get our first win, now we can get rolling.”
This season, JGR has won 10 races, seven with the No. 20 Toyota, led by crew chief Dave Rogers. Logano is now the fourth driver to take that car to victory lane.
When asked his thoughts of the young phenom’s talent, Rogers replied coyly, “Three starts, two poles, one win. He’s OK.”
Logano’s closest competition throughout the 300-mile event came from teammate Kyle Busch, who flew into Kentucky following a seventh-place finish in the Craftsman Truck Series race in Brooklyn, Mich.
Busch started at the rear of the field since he did not make it in time to qualify the No. 18 Toyota. By lap 40, he had worked his way through the field and into the lead. He led a race-high 85 laps. Logano led 76.
On lap 147, Logano chose the outside groove and drove passed Busch for the lead in turn four. Regrouping for a challenge against Logano, Busch lost control of his Toyota on lap 164 and smacked the outside wall in turn two, relenting him to a 30th-place  finish.
From there, Logano pulled away to a 2.259-second advantage over runner-up Scott Wimmer on the 1.5-mile speedway.
“It was unfortunate to see Kyle hit the fence there. I think our car was strong enough that we might have been able to hold him off. The whole last 20 laps, I was praying for it to go green. Once we finally took that white flag, that felt a lot better.  I just cruised around the last lap; it was nice,” Logano concluded.
Mike Wallace was third. Nashville winner Brad Keselowski took fourth and Bryan Clauson posted his best-career finish in fifth.
Logano’s victory also kept a Kentucky Speedway streak alive, marking three-straight  first-time winners on the 1.5-mile track. Recently purchased by Speedway Motorsports, Inc., Kentucky had its largest crowd to date Saturday, topping out at 73,195. It was the track’s eighth-straight sell-out.