Logano rules youth movement at Michigan

Joey Logano won six races in 2015, nearly made the final four for a second time, and had an all-around successful year.

As for Logano’s start to 2016, the wins were just a bit harder to come by. The newest incarnation of a lower-downforce package was a catalyst to end his drought.
Asserting his dominance on restarts to hold off all challengers, Logano cruised to the win in the Firekeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway on June 12, leading 138 of the 200 laps. He became the 10th different driver to win a race on the season and punched his ticket to the Chase.
And if anyone had doubts about the future of NASCAR, they needed to look at who ran up front at MIS. After the 26-year-old Logano, Chase Elliott (20) and Kyle Larson (23) combined to become the youngest top three finishers – average age: 23 – in a Sprint Cup race since 1951.
While the young ones were ruling the front of the field, some of the veterans weren’t nearly as fortunate, including Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Busch.
For the fourth race in a row, Busch finished 30th or worse. His No. 18 M&Ms Toyota lost the engine on lap 52 and he finished dead last in 40th. Earnhardt Jr. was the next car out of the race after his No. 88 collided with Chris Buescher at lap 62.
Adding insult to the injury, Buescher was able to have the damage repaired to his No. 34 and he went on to finish 20th.
As the series heads to the second off week of the year, the debate can officially begin on who will break through and change their zero in the win column to get into the Chase.
Here’s a stat to note: In the first two seasons with the new eliminator-style format, there were 13 and 11 drivers, respectively, who got into the Chase by winning a race in the first 26. So far in Year 3, there are some notable names still searching for that elusive checkered flag.
Earnhardt Jr. headlines the list. After three wins in 2015, Junior has been shaky of late. Although he has four runner-up efforts, the average finish for the 88 since Texas has been 16th and he’s led just 53 laps on the year.
Elliott is as close to having a breakthrough in the win column as any Cup rookie in a long, long time. The runner-up finish at Michigan was the best of his 15-race career and he’s had 11 top-10 runs.
After crashing at Las Vegas and ending up 38th, Elliott’s average finish since then has been 7.1. He should be Rookie of the Year in a stone-cold lock, although Ryan Blaney has potential to give him a run for his money.
Austin Dillon – love him or hate him – shook off three weeks of bad runs and grabbed an eighth-place finish at Michigan. He’ll need to put at least three weeks of solid runs together to stay in Chase contention.
As for Blaney, he would be the 16th and final Chase qualifier if it started today. Cliché aside, the Wood Brothers driver has seen mistakes at the worst times cost him shots at wins.
Blaney does have four top-10s in the last six races, but with the first of two road course races coming up at Sonoma Raceway in two weeks, the pressure to perform is officially on.
For all the remaining drivers with championship dreams, the race to the Chase begins right now.

Follow Tom Zulewski on Twitter @Tomzsports.

NEXT WEEK'S RACES

Iowa Speedway (.875-mile oval), Newton, Iowa)

-XFINITY SERIES: American Ethanol E15 250, Sunday, 1:30 p.m. ET/10:30 a.m. PT, Fox Sports 1. Radio: SiriusXM Channel 90 or your local MRN Radio affiliate.

Race distance: 250 laps, 218.75 miles

2015 champion: Chris Buescher

-CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES: Speediatrics 200, Saturday, 8:30 p.m. ET/5:30 p.m. PT, Fox Sports 1. Radio: SiriusXM Channel 90 or your local MRN Radio affiliate.

Race distance: 200 laps, 175 miles

2015 champion: Erik. Jones.

-SPRINT CUP: Off until June 26 for the Toyota/SaveMart 350 at Sonoma Raceway, Sonoma, Calif.