Notebook: Kobyluck looks for reversal of fortunes (cont'd)

Logano Looking For Hat Trick

After winning the first two Grand National events he's entered, 16-year-old Joey Logano is looking for the hat trick in tonight's Minnesota 150 at Elko.

Logano earned national attention last year when Mark Martin showered him with high praise. He knows that the spotlight has only gotten brighter with his early-season performance.

"I'm sure right now there's a lot of people shooting for us," said Logano, who has wins at Phoenix and Greenville-Pickens. "That's a good thing.

"We had two really good runs. As long as they're chasing us, I'm happy with that."

Even though this is the first NASCAR Grand National Division race at Elko, Logano has experience at the track. He ran an ASA touring event at Elko two years ago. Qualifying was rained out for that event and Logano was third fastest in practice. He said he was moving up in the field when "I made a mistake and put it in the wall."

"I was probably over my head at that time," said Logano, who was 14 when he ran that event. "It was a good race -- not a real fast race track, but you can still race real good."

They Said It

"It looks like it's going to be fun. I like short tracks, I really do."
-- Jesus Hernandez, Busch East Series rookie and Ginn Racing development driver.

"You don't have the steering wheel straight for long. It's a fun little race track."
-- Logano, about Elko.

And more

• Jamie Hayes, a development driver for Ken Schrader Racing Inc., was fastest during Friday afternoon's two-hour practice session. Hayes' best lap was 14.319.

Sean Caisse was second fastest at 14.366, followed by Brian Ickler (14.378), Joe Gibbs Racing development driver Marc Davis (14.383), and 2006 NASCAR Mexico champion Rogelio Lopez (14.430).

The rest of the top 10 speeds in practice were set by defending Busch East champion Mike Olsen (14.448), Jeffrey Earnhardt (14.450), Kobyluck (14.458), Logano (14.464), and Eric Holmes (14.468). Holmes was the 2006 West Series champion but is running in the Busch East this season.

Kobyluck best lap was 29th fastest until he came back out with two minutes remaining in practice and jumped into the top 10, knocking out Richard Childress Racing development driver Ryan Foster (14.482).

Qualifying is set for 8 p.m. ET; the race is scheduled to begin at 10 p.m.

• Logano isn't the only one in the field to have raced at Elko. Busch East rookie Tim Schendel, who won last year's NASCAR AutoZone Elite Division, Midwest Series, has experience in the track having run in various series. He has a 150-lap ASA victory at Elko. Schendel provided his fellow rookies with an explanation of what to expect from the track during Friday morning's Rookie Meeting.