After some perusing on the always-valuable Racing Reference site, here’s a look at how the 20-and-under set fared in their rookie years on the Cup circuit. (The only qualifier for the list is that the drivers are still active somewhere in NASCAR, so this list skews toward recent years as younger drivers became more prominent.)

Casey Atwood was the next big thing when he made his Winston Cup debut at 19. He managed a top-10 in his third career race — the final one of a limited schedule in 2000 — and went on to add a top-five and three top-10s in 2001. But he slumped badly the following year (no top-10s) and was out of the series before the end of February, 2002.

Kyle Busch, like Atwood, was highly touted upon his arrival in the Cup series. He ran a partial schedule in 2004 at age 19, which yielded no memorable results. But as a rookie, he won twice for Hendrick Motorsports and had nine top-fives and 13 top-10s. Though he finished 20th in points, he set the stage for a successful stint with Hendrick and now with Gibbs, where he’ll be Logano’s teammate.

Sterling Marlin made his Cup debut as a 19-year old back in 1976, but ran only one race: He finished 29th at Nashville. But it would be seven more years until Marlin ran a full season in NASCAR’s top series.

Three years after Marlin’s debut, 19-year old Kyle Petty made his. He ran five races in 1979, the best of which came at his first race; he finished ninth at Talladega. The following year, he ran in 15 of the 31 races with six top-10s.

Reed Sorenson ran twice in 2004 but wasn’t a presence on the leaderboard. His first full season in 2005, at 20 years old, produced a top-five and two top-10s. (Sorenson, by the way, appears headed to a different team.)

Brian Vickers qualified well in his debut in 2003 when he was 19, with an average starting spot of 6.2 in five races. The finishes weren’t as spectacular, however (29.4). In his first full season in 2004, the trend continued: Vickers had four top-10 finishes but two poles.

It’s worth noting that of the list, only Busch, Petty and Vickers were running top-flight equipment during their debuts and full seasons. Busch, as noted, was at Hendrick, as was Vickers; Petty began his career at Petty Enterprises just as his father was winding down the most successful career in Cup history.

With that in mind, can anything be taken from these results? Perhaps. It seems as if Logano is to have success, it won’t be in the near-term. He’s scheduled to attempt his first Cup race at Richmond in a few weeks, where he’ll get his feet wet (though one could argue that his feet haven’t yet gotten fully wet in the Nationwide series).

Dealing with life on the Cup tour isn’t easy, even in a pure racing sense. Logano moved straight into the Nationwide series, bypassing the Trucks, which have produced some considerable racing talent over the years.

But even in Nationwide, the cars are more forgiving — a truism which existed even before the introduction of the COT. Logano will have good mentors in that regard, given that Busch, Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin have all won Nationwide races this season. Still, it’s a transition best learned by experience.

Maybe Mark Martin’s praise will hold true and Logano will become NASCAR’s next shining star. But it’s a safe bet that stardom won’t be an overnight thing.

(Photo by Rob Carr/Associated Press)