The maturation of Logano beginning to show for JGR

For anyone who has ever been a student or a coach, a mentor or been mentored, there are those moments when the light bulb goes on and everyone just gets it.

That's not to mean that all the work is done. In fact, many gifted students and/or their mentors or coaches have made this mistake many times and thus failed to fill their joint potential.

'It was crazy'

JGR had a 1-2 finish at Martinsville, just not the 2 it probably was expecting.

• Final Laps: Martinsville
• Press Pass: Logano

But that, in turn, does not mean that such special moments aren't to be cherished and recognized for what they should become -- significant stepping stones on the way to much greater accomplishments.

So it was with Joey Logano's second-place finish at Martinsville a week ago Monday. To say Logano came out of nowhere to finish second to race winner Denny Hamlin, one of his teammates at Joe Gibbs Racing, would be a misnomer. Sure, he got there quietly; but he earned it by running a smooth, patient and competitive race throughout the grueling event at the .526-mile short track.

First of all, when Hamlin and their other JGR teammate, Kyle Busch, made the risky gambit to grab fresh tires and give up their own 1-2 track positions on Lap 493 of the scheduled 500-lap event, Logano and his crew chief, Greg Zipadelli, elected to stay out.

That in itself proved to be a smart move, much like the move JGR team president J.D. Gibbs and his father, owner Joe Gibbs, initiated two years ago when they elected to pair the talented but extremely young Logano with the veteran Zipadelli. They knew then that it might take some time for the two to mesh, but the pairing is now beginning to pay dividends even as Logano has yet to celebrate his 20th birthday (which will come next month, on May 24).

What happened next

That much was evident during the final laps at Martinsville. Logano made up ground on the restart following the caution during which Hamlin and Busch pitted, then kept coming forward when yet another caution period followed as the unfortunate Busch hit the outside wall, ruining his own chances at a top finish and assuring a green-white-checkered flag finish.

On the final restart, Hamlin started fourth on the outside of Row 2. Logano started fifth on the inside of Row 3.

When others in front of his No. 20 Toyota inevitably started running into each other on the subsequent restart, Logano took advantage of being able to start on the inside line and simply hugged the bottom of the track while punching the gas pedal. He soared all the way up to second as others fought each other off and fell by the wayside.

"Toward the end of the race, it was crazy," Logano admitted. "We knew it was gong to be crazy before it went green. Denny was in the outside row, one lane ahead of me. I knew he'd be coming real hard. He cleared [Ryan] Newman and was forcing his way down. I knew his car was better than mine, that he could out-brake us. (Continued)