Joey Logano had a rough go of it in the first five full-time years of his NASCAR Cup Series career.
From 2009-13, the Connecticut native earned only three wins, with two years separating his first and second wins with Joe Gibbs Racing.
His third win came in 2013 in his first season with Team Penske.
Logano finally started hitting his stride on April 7, 2014 at Texas Motor Speedway.
After having led 107 laps, the race came down to an overtime finish with Logano restarting third behind Jeff Gordon. Logano was on four new tires while Gordon was on two new tires.
Gordon led the first lap of overtime, but Logano was side-by-side with him as they took the white flag.
By the time they reached Turn 1, the lead was Logano’s.
One lap later, Logano had his fourth career win. He was the seventh different winner through seven races.
Two races later Logano would claim career win No. 5 at Richmond Raceway. He’d end the year with five wins and would be part of the first Championship 4 in Miami.
Also on this date:
1957: Fireball Roberts led a 1-2-3-4 sweep by Peter DePaolo’s team in a 100-mile race at North Wilkesboro. Roberts won over Paul Goldsmith, Ralph Moody and Marvin Panch. It was the first of three wins in a row for Roberts.
1966: Ford began a boycott of the Cup Series by its factory teams over regulations on its OHC engine. The boycott lasted until August after a race at Atlanta.
1974: David Pearson won the Rebel 450 at Darlington over Bobby Allison. Similar to many races that year, the race distance was cut by 50 miles due to the national energy crisis. Ironically, according to “Forty Years of Stock Car Racing: The Modern Era,” Pearson led the final 11 laps and had to coast across the finish line after running out of fuel.
1991: Michael Waltrip led 208 of 367 laps at Darlington before a 37.4-second pit stop due to a jammed air hose relegated him to an eventual third-place finish, according to “NASCAR: A Complete History.” Ricky Rudd wound up with the win over Davey Allison.