Youthful Logano leading the way at Gibbs

Nineteen-year-old Joey Logano is already enjoying a new level of success this year.

Three races into his second NASCAR Sprint Cup season, the heralded rookie is living up to the expectations foisted upon him when he made his rookie debut. A year of experience under his belt, he's taken the lessons of his opening season and a growing relationship with crew chief Greg Zipadelli and become one of the top early performers of 2010.

While the year is just getting started, Logano and Zipadelli have showcased their improved Joe Gibbs Racing team in the critical races at Auto Club and Las Vegas Motor speedways, tracks that mirror the majority of those on the schedule. Logano, who finished 20th in the points standings in his initial season of competition, also finished 20th in the season-opening Daytona 500. He then finished fifth in California and sixth in Las Vegas.

Now he heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway, the track closest to sponsor The Home Depot, with the potential to extend that streak.

It's the kind of performance that breeds confidence and shows strides are being made in the right direction.

It's the kind of performance that people expected, fairly or unfairly, from Logano from the start.

He entered Sprint Cup racing with a successful resume and the reputation of being a winner. Not only had he been formidable in races as he made his way through the ranks, he won in the Nationwide Series in his debut 2008 run. Soft-spoken and likeable, he brought to the sport the exciting charisma and potential of a teenager melded smoothly with a veteran's respect for the sport and his competitors.

He won a race during his debut season, enjoyed some other strong performances and smiled through the sometimes rough outings and pressure inherent to taking over a team that had won two championships under Zipadelli's tutelage.

Seems he only needed a little experience on these tracks, and in this heavier Sprint Cup car, and a year with Zipadelli under his belt to step up his level of consistent performance.

Logano has long maintained that he's relatively immune to the pressures of competing, but even so admits that the expectations surrounding his performance this year are probably still equal to those of the 2009 season.

Early performances only breed the expectation for more -- at least to the fans and competitors who have long predicted success for Logano.

"Pressure doesn't really get to me a whole bunch," Logano says. "Last year, (there was) a ton of pressure to get in the car and do good and the way some of the media was talking, especially in the beginning of the season, is a lot of pressure on anybody. At the same time, you've got to figure out a way to put that past you and just keep pushing ahead."

As Zipadelli says, "he's done a really good job of focusing and paying attention to the details."

Combined with Logano's experience and their increasing understanding of one another, that is leading to a more successful opening to this season.

To this point, Logano is carrying the banner for the premier JGR group. He's eighth in the standings, four positions ahead of teammate Kyle Busch and well ahead of the pace of Denny Hamlin, the preseason favorite to challenge Jimmie Johnson's dominance in the sport.

While neither he nor Zipadelli are overstating the start, Logano is clearly pleased with his opening run.

"Things are going great so far," Logano said. "We're definitely a lot better than last year which is a big plus, I think. A lot of it is probably me giving Zippy better information and trying to make our race cars better and our adjustments are getting better during the race and ... knowing what I want in the race cars is pretty much one of the biggest things, I think."

Zipadelli echoes that assessment. He says that changes made within the team and the chance to have some downtime in the offseason to work on things and perhaps just take a breather are paying off for the team. He says that he's proud of "everyone, as a group" for the effort put forth in the team.

The equipment, he feels, is a little better. His relationship with Logano has evolved. And then there's that added experience Logano has and the way he embraces learning.

"To me, the exciting part is we're not to our potential," Zipadelli says.

For Logano, having "almost two top fives" is also something that breeds that excitement.

Going forward, there's simply more room to continue to improve and grow as a team. Logano will continue to get added laps on the track, something that will only help his learning curve. He and Zipadelli will gain more experience together, which should only enhance their relationship further.

As he looks at his young career, Logano recognizes all those elements -- and views the growing experience level as one of the keys to his step up in performance. And that will only continue as the months and races go by this season.

"The experience level is the biggest thing," he says. "Another year of me and (Zipadelli) getting to know each other and working better together, I think that was a big deal. Experience is the biggest thing. It's huge. You look at the Nationwide car, when we started in '08 I only won one race and probably should have won a lot more with that car and last year we won five with it so that was the experience level in that car.

"So now we're closer to that over here."