Logano has makeup to elevate to star power

Folks, meet your next object of fascination.

You know it's coming. You might have sensed it even before Sunday's Lenox Industrial Tools 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

It may still be a year or so away but, what the heck, the kid has plenty of time. And loads of talent. And obviously that winning smile.

The thing about a winning smile is that you have to win once in a while to back it up. Otherwise, it goes into hiding and only occasionally is flashed, or in worst-case scenarios seems to disappear altogether.

The masses like to see it.

Joey Logano wore his winning smile well in Victory Lane on Sunday in New Hampshire. Anyone who can look that genuinely happy while trying to hoist a lobster on steroids is bound to rake in his fair share of new fans, while satisfying the old crowd as well.

Logano is poised to wow them all. He has the distinct look of the next Most Popular Driver in NASCAR.

We're not talking a one-year run here, either. When it comes to the fans voting for their Most Popular Driver, especially in recent decades, it's more like these guys are signing on for multiple terms in office than they are being awarded a single-year honor.

In the past 18 years, for example, there has been the grand total of three winners of the award: Bill Elliott, Dale Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

There are a few guys who might be able to sneak in a year or two where they win it in the near future. But who else besides Logano is set up for the next long run?

Rightly or wrongly, three-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson is too vanilla in the eyes of many fans, plus he draws the ire of those who pull for others by beating them all too often. Jeff Gordon, quite frankly, deserves to win one before he retires and very likely might -- but he's not likely to drive for more than another three or four seasons at most. Kasey Kahne and Carl Edwards could be candidates, but some fans seem to regard them warily for whatever reasons.

And none of them has as much youthful momentum on their side, nor the absolutely clean slate that goes along with an adolescence well spent, that Logano does. (Continued)