Teenager places sixth at Dover

Joey Logano wanted a top-five. The 18-year-old rookie had to settle for sixth.

“It ain’t much on my book,” he said.

Don’t worry, kid. There’s plenty of time to drive your way into Victory Lane.

The next NASCAR star has arrived and Logano delivered in his national-level debut with the kind of finish that showed why he was one of the most hyped prospects in years.

But it was another Joe Gibbs Racing driver who claimed the win.

Denny Hamlin made it a whopping nine victories for JGR in the Nationwide Series this season, leading all but 69 laps to crush the field and win Saturday night in the Heluva Good! 200 at Dover International Speedway in Dover, Del.

“Fairly uneventful,” Hamlin said.

About the only suspense for Hamlin came at the end, when he peeked at the scoreboard to see if Logano would score a top-seven finish.

“By the finish, it looked like he did great,” Hamlin said.

Carl Edwards, who started on the pole, was second. David Stremme was third and David Reutimann fourth. Clint Bowyer kept his points lead and was ninth.

IRL

Twenty-seven cars were on hand Saturday for practice and qualifying on the Milwaukee Mile in West Allis, Wis., for today’s ABC Supply A.J. Foyt 225. That’s nine more than raced here a year ago, before the IRL’s IndyCar Series absorbed its former rival, the Champ Car World Series. And it’s just one fewer than the record, when Champ Car – then known as CART – brought 28 to the track in 1996, the first year of the schism.

A crash in practice Saturday forced Marty Roth to withdraw his entry and cut the race field by one. But it remained one of the biggest in the long history of the suburban Milwaukee track.

“I think the race is going to be a problem,” said Indianapolis 500 winner Scott Dixon before Roth’s crash. “With 18 cars, or however many we had last year, it was almost impossible to get around the track without incidents. So, with 27, it’s going to be interesting for everybody.”