Logano wins, but will have to wait
LOUDON, N.H. - Joey Logano, the 17-year-old wunderkind development driver for Joe Gibbs Racing, departed New Hampshire International Speedway yesterday with a $5,000 check, but no Busch East Series championship trophy after he won the Aubuchon Hardware 100, leaving him 19 points shy of becoming the youngest NASCAR touring division champion.
Although it was believed Logano needed to pad his 82-point lead over Matt Kobyluck by 108 points in order to clinch the Busch East title, no one seemed to account for Sean Caisse, who put Logano's coronation on hold when he finished runner-up to leapfrog Kobyluck for second in the points. Pole-sitter Rogelio Lopez finished third.
Logano, who won the New England 125 at NHIS in June, took the lead from Mark McFarland on Lap 114 and led the remaining 11 laps. With 10 to go, Kobyluck fell out of contention when Kelly Moore collided with him in Turn 3, dropping Kobyluck to 33d.
Logano, as a result, left NHIS with a 171-point lead over Caisse (1,943-1,772) and will need only to start next Friday's season finale at Dover, Del., in order to become the first rookie champion in Busch East history.
"Really, it felt like a thousand pounds got lifted up off my shoulders," said Logano, of Middletown, Conn., who recorded his fifth Busch East victory of the season, four of which came while driving an undefeated Tony Stewart throwaway car. "Coming into this race, I never get nervous for a race, but I was thinking about points all week; that's all I was thinking about the points championship.
"Coming in here, I knew we had a great car, an undefeated car. She's got a special place in my heart for the rest of my life."
Hornish denied
IndyCar Series driver Sam Hornish Jr. was thwarted in his bid to make his NASCAR Nextel Cup debut at NHIS when the 2006 Indianapolis 500 winner failed to qualify for tomorrow's Sylvania 300, turning a lap of 126.631 miles per hour in the No. 06 Penske Racing Dodge. "We made some changes from practice and we were a little bit too loose," said Hornish, who is expected to compete in the four remaining Car of Tomorrow races in the Chase: at Dover, Talladega, Ala., Phoenix, and Martinsville, Va. "We just couldn't get the car to come off the corner like we needed to. We're a little disappointed, but we'll try it again." . . . Dave Blaney, who delivered 
