“It’s crazy,” he said. “Obviously, everything at the end of the day went our way. You can’t control the weather. The only thing you can do is try to play it to our hand.”

Logano, 19 years, one month and four days old, broke the record set by Kyle Busch for the youngest winner. Busch, now 24, was 20 years, four months and two days when he won for the first time at California in Sept. 2005.

Logano was first spotted as a 15-year-old by NASCAR star Mark Martin, who predicted greatness for the youngster. He been on the fast track ever since, winning races at every level and beating some of NASCAR’s top developmental drivers along the way.

To his embarrassment, Logano was dubbed “Sliced Bread,” as in, “the greatest thing since ... “

The kid has struggled at times this season, but he has shown flashes of the kind of talent that gave Gibbs the confidence to put him in the No. 20 Toyota.

“We know today we were fortunate,” Gibbs said. “And we know there will probably be some tough days out there for us. But I’m absolutely thrilled for Joey and his family and for us, all of us at Joe Gibbs Racing. We figure we can keep this going, ride this thing for about 20 years.”

It was a virtual home victory for Logano, who was raised in Middletown, Conn., and who made his first Cup start on the same 1.058-mile oval last September, struggling throughout the race and finishing 32nd.

Gordon was disappointed with the second-place finish.

“I felt like we had the best car,” Gordon said. “The guys got us out first on our last pit stop, but it just got us out ahead of the guys we were racing with.”

He said Zipadelli made “a gutsy call” leaving Logano on track.

Kurt Busch, who won a rain-shortened event here last June, finished third, followed by David Reutimann and Stewart, the series leader by 69 points over Gordon.

The race was slowed by 11 caution flags for 47 laps. The ninth one was brought out when Logano spun in heavy traffic, hitting the wall in turn four on the 1.058-mile oval.

That cost Logano a lap, but he got it back on the next caution flag, earning the free pass as the first car a lap down.

Logano said Zipadelli told him he could probably have run about five more laps before he ran out of gas.

But the rain came and Logano won.