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It was one year ago on May 24 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway that he celebrated his 18th birthday, signaling the start to his national series career.

He won quickly – it took only three races for him to claim his first victory in the NASCAR Nationwide race at Kentucky Speedway – but 2009 brought new challenges. Logano joined the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series on a full-time basis and early polls said the jump might have been harder than expected.

But slowly, he has come around on the NASCAR Sprint Cup side, scoring two top 10s in the last three races.

He has the NASCAR Nationwide Series to thank for that. Except for one race this year – at Las Vegas Motor Speedway – Logano has pulled double duty all season. Despite missing that one race, he’s fourth in the standings, 199 points out of first.

Logano and The Home Depot Team finished eighth in the All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway Saturday night after running fifth in the Sprint Showdown and winning the fan vote to advance to the main event. The Home Depot Team has competed in the All-Star Race since its inception in 1999, and this was just the second time it competed in the Showdown.

“First of all I’ve got to thank the fans for this one,” said Logano. “That’s really cool to be a Raybestos Rookie and to get the fan vote. It was amazing. I’ve got to thank all The Home Depot associates that were voting out there. That was the most fun I have ever had in a Cup race. The last 10 laps were awesome, I loved the format of this race.”

Logano was forced to start from the 19th position in the Showdown after qualifying was rained out on Friday. The Showdown field was set by the order the teams drew for qualifying. After starting deep from within the field for the first of two 20-lap segments, at the completion of the first segment Logano was up to the ninth position. Several teams elected to remain on the track during the mandatory caution flag, but crew chief Greg Zipadelli brought Logano to pit road for tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment. Logano started the second session from the 17th position and maneuvered around cars like a seasoned pro. He gained 12 spots in 20 laps to finish the Showdown in the fifth position. Although only the top two finishers were guaranteed a spot in the All-Star Race, Logano and The Home Depot crew were the recipients of the Sprint Fan Vote and transferred into the 100-lap main event.

The All-Star Race consisted of four segments, a 50-lap stint with a green-flag pit stop, two 20-laps segments and a 10-lap shootout. Logano started the first segment from the last position which was 21st place. He told Zipadelli he was tight so the team made a trackbar adjustment while fitting The Home Depot Toyota with tires and fuel on the mandatory pit stop. Logano raced as high as 10th, but the changes made the car extremely loose and finished the first segment in 11th.

The two 20-lap segments were a slight setback for the team. After starting 11th, Logano dropped back to 15th before the start of the third segment. While several cars remained on the track, Zipadelli brought Logano in for right-side tires, a chassis adjustment and fuel. He finished 14th and would start the 10-lap shootout for a million dollars from that position. In the closing 10-lap shootout, only green-flag laps counted. Two caution flags waved before the completion of three laps, but Logano avoided trouble and was back into the top 10 after five laps. In the final two trips around the 1.5-mile track, Logano picked up two additional positions including passing the No. 88 car on the final stretch to finish eighth.

“I felt like I had a good car, even in Showdown,” said Logano. “We took tires on The Home Depot Toyota and come back to the front. We started the All-Star race, were driving to the front and I was excited because the car was good. We loosened it up a little bit and the car went completely the other way - I was sideways now. I think the track changes at night because it kept getting looser, and the team kept tightening it and finally on that last 20-lap segment run got it back where it needed to be. It’s tough because I got behind. They also do the scoring by the last completed lap on cautions so there were a couple times I passed a car and get caught back behind them again. That was frustrating but it makes me feel like we probably should have finished better than what we did.

“I had so much fun in the last 10 laps. It was great and completely out of control. We would run two, then four or five laps at a time and it was all out as much as you can. I was pretty happy with the whole night though. I learned so much that will help me next week in the Coca-Cola 600, I am really looking forward to that race now.”

The Showdown and All-Star races were non-points events, so Logano and the team remain in 30th heading into the Coca-Cola 600 next weekend. The longest race of the season begins at 5:45 p.m. ET on FOX Television on Sunday, May 24th – Logano’s 19th Birthday.