ROCKINGHAM, N.C. — Carolina 500 winner Joey Logano will turn 18 in a couple of weeks, making the Joe Gibbs Racing phenom eligible for NASCAR’s top-tier series.
Logano said plans are for him to make his Nationwide Series debut in the No. 20 Toyota Camry, which has been driven to victory by Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin this season, at Dover.

• Days before the green flag dropped on Sunday’s ARCA RE/MAX Carolina 500, the series made its presence known with a Thursday evening parade of haulers through downtown Rockingham.
Some 44 cars arrived on Thursday while eight more rolled into the famed “Rock” on Friday.

• As reported in this newspaper in April, Rockingham Speedway officials announced plans for the inaugural Polar Bear 150 Jan. 1, 2009, featuring the Frank Kimmel Street Stock Car Series. The street-stock event will be the third held under the auspices of new speedway owner Andy Hillenburg, including this past weekend’s ARCA RE/MAX Carolina 500 and the USAR Hooters Pro Cup season ender Nov. 1.
For information on the Polar Bear 150, contact Rockingham Speedway at (910) 205-8800.

• After showing the lap-by-lap dominance of Joey Logano’s ARCA RE/MAX Carolina 500 victory, Speed practically missed the boat on the afternoon's most dramatic moments. The gaffe occurred during a restart within the final 10 laps.
Logano pitted after a caution with 10 laps to go and restarted fourth, handing the lead to Ken Schrader. With fresh tires, Logano easily passed the two cars between himself and Schrader.
Meanwhile, Speed was at commercial and did not rejoin the race’s final laps until well after the restart. Upon returning to action, Speed started with a tape-delay to show the restart, but abruptly cut to the live feed with Logano in front of Schrader.

• West Palm Beach, Fla.’s, Harrell Champion paid a tax-deductible $3,000 to be a part of the parade laps as a passenger in the car starting “51st” in the Carolina 500.
Harrell’s winning bid for the ride will go to the Richmond County (N.C.) United Way. He rode along with retired Cup driver Ricky Rudd.

• Rockingham Speedway owner Hillenburg said he has plans to install SAFER barriers at the track.
It’s just a question of time and money.
“I can’t give you a time-table, of course, because basically I have invested as much as I can in the facility,” Hillenburg said. “There’s a lot of improvements. I have a vision of what Rockingham Speedway can be and what it should have been all along, and I don’t know if it’s going to take me two years, four years, six years or 10 years to make it. I am going to work very hard on making that a reality.”
Hillenburg said the fact that he is a former driver and that so many current drivers are his friends, makes safety a major concern at the track.

• Billy Leslie, driver of the No. 18 Titan Tire Ford, said racing at Rockingham was a “dream come true.”
“It was awesome out there,” he said. “Here at Rockingham Speedway and Darlington are two places I’ve always wanted to race, so this is a dream come true, coming here.”
A broken motor ended Leslie’s day. He was one of 18 of the 50 starters already in the garage when the checkers flew.