Sloey Nogano, er, Joey Logano

(Photo Courtesy of LOLnascar)

Alright. Raise your hand if you thought Joey "Sliced Bread" Logano was going to be 35th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup driver point standings, after seven races? Okay. Put your hands down. Now. Raise your hand if you really thought Logano was going to start the 2009 season, 9th in points (based on the 2008 owners points), and sink to the 35th and final guaranteed starting position so quickly. My hand stayed down both times. And if you raised your hand both times, well, I won't call you a liar, but I will say most of you aren't being completely honest.

I guess you have to give the rookie a break. He is only 19 years old, and a veteran of only 10 Cup races. But I thought he would have done more with the powerhouse that is the Joe Gibbs Racing, No. 20 Home Depot Toyota. Joey is also competing against Scott Speed, for Rookie of the Year (ROTY) honors, and currently leads the ROTY points. That ROTY contest may ultimately be set in Logano's lap. Speed failed to qualify for the most recent race. That can't happen if there is to be a ROTY race, since there are no other drivers involved (Max Papis is considered a ROTY candidate, but he is scheduled to run only 18 races).

Note that, if Joey falls out of the top-35 in owners points, and fails to qualify for any races, this could be the most lame ROTY contest in history.

So, here's a rundown of Joey's (and Scott's) season so far.

JoeLo's 2009 Season Recap

Daytona 500: Start 9th (Good!), Finish 43rd (Bad!).
While running 27th, lost it on Lap 79, trying to avoid the loose car of Scott Speed (coincidentally, the only other Cup rookie of the year candidate in the race). Speed finished 35th.

ROTY Points: Logano 11, Speed 10

Auto Club 500 (California): Start 34th (could be worse), Finish 26th (could be better). A decent result, for the rookie. He was one lap down, at the finish, but at least he finished, and finished ahead of Scott Speed (41st, blown engine).

ROTY Points: Logano 21, Speed 21

Shelby 427 (Las Vegas): Start 20th (nice), Finish 13 (now we're talkin). A solid race, for the newbie. Things are looking up.

ROTY Points: Logano 32, Speed 31

Kobalt Tools 500 (Atlanta): Start 42nd (huh boy), Finish 30th (doh!). Somebody bumped Logano and put him into the wall. Scott Speed pinned David Ragan's car to the wall, which caused Speed to pound the wall, which resulted in a multicar crash. Speed finished 35th.

ROTY Points: Logano 43, Speed 41

Food City 500 (Bristol): Start 23rd (okay), Finish 38th (that's Bristol). Struggled to stay on the lead lap, but ended up blowing an engine on Lap 324. Speed finally tops Logano for top-finishing rookie of the race (28th).

ROTY Points: Logano 53, Speed 52

Goodies Fast Pain Relief 500 (Martinsville): Started 34th (yawn), Finished 32nd (yawn). Cut down a tire, early in the race, and finished four laps down. Better than Speed, who finished 39th, 76 laps down, after getting wrecked by Kyle Busch.

ROTY Points: Logano 64, Speed 62

Samsung 500 (Texas): Started 10th (yee haw), Finished 30th (gal darnit). Again, finished four laps down. But the good news is that the other ROTY contender (Speed) did not qualify his way into the race. Speed is another, and bigger, disappointment in 2009. Can you hear A.J. Allmendinger giggling in the distance. Red Bull should never have dropped A.J. for Speed. Bling bling, don't mean a thing Red Bull!!

ROTY Points: Logano 75, Speed 63