Earnhardt Jr. ends the streak

NASCAR JOEY LOGANO The most-watched winless streak in NASCAR ended Sunday at Michigan International Speedway when Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his crew took a gas mileage gamble and won the race on fumes.

Earnhardt Jr., the sport's most popular driver, had to keep his Chevrolet running through a latecaution and a green-white-checkered finish to score his first points victory since May of 2006 at Richmond. It was his 18th Cup victory but his first since joining Hendrick Motorsports at the start of the season. He did win two non-points events, the Budweiser Shootout and a 150-mile qualifier at Daytona, earlier this year.

Earnhardt Jr. seemed relieved to break into the winning column, even though it wasn't a dominating victory.

"They can write what they want, but we won one," he said in Victory Lane.

Logano becomes youngest winner

The expectations were high when the heralded rookie Joey Logano took over Joe Gibbs Racing's No. 20 Nationwide Series entry, the hottest car on NASCAR's No. 2 circuit. But Logano and crew quickly delivered.

In his third start in the series, Logano won the pole and the race at Kentucky Speedway, becoming the circuit's youngest winner at 18 years, 21 days.

Logano said that he has been expected to win at every level - from his Quarter Midget days through Legends, Hooters Pro Cup, NASCAR Camping World and ARCA.

"I've kind of had that kind of pressure on me my whole life," he said. "If I was happy with a top- 10 finish that would be weird for me.We go to run up front."

Logano's crew chief, Dave Rogers, who has won seven races this season with four different drivers (four with Tony Stewart and one each with Kyle Busch, Logano and Denny Hamlin), told reporters at Kentucky that the latest victory was a true team effort.

"We came off the truck really tight," he said. "The guys changed everything but the door number and the name above the door. They worked really hard and kept working on it through the race. The pit crew did a good job, and the driver willed it to the front."

Lawsuit troubling for NASCAR

The fallout from a $250 million lawsuit filed against NASCAR by a former Nationwide Series official likely will continue for some time.

Mauricia Grant, a black woman from Atlanta, claimed in her lawsuit that she was fired last October after complaining about racial and sexual harassment.

She alleged that her white male co-workers referred to her as "Nappy Headed Mo" and "Queen Sheba" and was told she worked on "colored people's time."

The Associated Press reported that representatives of NASCAR's human resources and legal departments traveled to Kentucky Speedway last week and interviewed officials. They suspended indefinitely two people named in Grant's suit.

NASCAR puts hush on COT critics

When NASCAR summoned drivers and car owners to a mandatory closed meeting at Michigan International Speedway on Friday, some speculated that it was to let drivers know how to respond to questions about Mauricia Grant's lawsuit. Others figured that officials wanted to hear suggestions from drivers and owners on how to improve the Car of Tomorrow, which has produced lackluster racing - and complaints from drivers - in recent races.

Instead, the drivers and owners apparently were told to quit complaining about the car. Similar meetings apparently were held with the broadcasters who cover the sport on radio and TV.