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Joey Logano (left) and Kevin Harvick share a laugh in Victory Lane following the 2007 Featherlite Coaches 200.

Looking Back: New Era Begins With 2007 Iowa Clash

www.arcaracing.com May 1, 2020

The shift had started before Joey Logano pulled into Victory Lane on Sunday, May 20, 2007 at Iowa Speedway.

The then 16-year-old’s impressive win, however, serves as a landmark to the new era for driver development in the series that’s now under the ARCA Menards Series banner, as well as the race track.

The Connecticut driver was already on the industry radar. The previous season, Mark Martin went so far to say he would tab Logano as his replacement for the No. 6 Cup car if he was old enough.

“I am high on Joey Logano because I am absolutely, 100 percent positive, without a doubt, that he can be one of the greatest that ever raced in NASCAR,” Martin told the media at Dover Motor Speedway. “I’m positive. There’s no doubt in my mind. I know it.”

At the time, Logano was just 15.

In the first season after the minumum age for drivers in the regional touring series from 18 to 16, the Connecticut native won his first race in what was then the NASCAR West Series, at Phoenix Raceway. Two weeks later, he won the NASCAR Busch East opener at South Carolina’s Greenville Pickens Speedway.

Fast forward to Iowa, where Logano – then a development driver for Joe Gibbs Racing – battled Cup driver Kevin Harvick throughout the Featherlite Coaches 200. The two traded the lead 14 times, with Logano finally surging out front on the final restart and leading the last seven laps en route to the win.

For Logano, it was the second of five wins he would pick up en route to claiming the series’ Rookie of the Year and championship. He would be the youngest driver to win an East championship until Harrison Burton broke his mark in 2017.

Logano would take a little while before fulfilling Martin’s lofty proclamation.

Logano won the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown, the postseason non-points showcase, twice and won two of his four ARCA Menards Series starts between 2008-09.

He ascended to the Cup Series by 2009, but after a lack luster run with JGR, found a resurgence with Penske Racing. He won the DAYTONA 500 in 2015 and the Cup championship in 2018.

RACING-REFERENCE: Featherlite Coaches 200 | Joey Logano Career Statistics

Logano’s success at an early age also helped usher in the wave of young drivers in the series. While he was the first in the series to accomplish the feat, six time in the ensuing 12 years a driver won both the East rookie of the year and series championship in the same season.

Logano finished the season easily out-distancing Sean Caisse and Peyton Sellers for the crown. Series’ veteran Matt Kobyluck finished fourth.

2007 East Standings | 2007 West Standings

Kobyluck would come back in 2008 and win the East title at age 39, the last driver under 21 to win the East championship.

Harvick won the DAYTONA 500 and the All-Star Race in 2007 – claiming the latter the night before the Iowa race – and would go on to finish 10th in NASCAR Cup Series points.

He won his first Cup title in 2014 and has finished in the top three in Cup standings six of the last seven years.

The 2007 Iowa race was the first at the track between the NASCAR East and West Series.

Harvick was the highest finshing West driver, followed by Johnny Borneman III (fourth overall) and Mike Duncan (fifth). Duncan, a two-time West champion, would retire after the 2007 season.

Mike David finished 20th at Iowa. But the then 40-year-old rolled off five top fives in the last eight races to claim the West championship over Dunan and Rookie of the Year Jason Bowles. Bowles would win the West title in 2009.

The 2007 race was also the first NASCAR event at Iowa Speedway. Steve Wallace christened the track that his father, NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace, helped design with an ARCA Menards Series win in October of 2006.

In 2008, Brian Ickler brought home the East-West win over Cup driver Kasey Kahne and future DAYTONA 500 winner Trevor Bayne.

The overwhelming success of those two events from an attendance standpoint helped bring the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series to Iowa beginning in 2009.

RACING-REFERENCE: Race Results at Iowa Speedway

Through the 2019 season, Iowa has hosted 20 NASCAR Xfinity Series events, 13 NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck races, 13 ARCA Menards Series races, and 17 East-West combination races.

Iowa 2 052007
From left, Kevin Harvick, David Mayhew, Eric Richardson and Mike Duncan chat prior to the 2007 Featherlite Coaches 200 at Iowa Speedway. All four are former track champions at the now-closed Mesa Marin Speedway in Bakersfield, California.