NASCAR’s Joey Logano, 19, skillfully runs with the big boys

As four of the most experienced drivers in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series battled for the win Sunday in the Auto Club 500, right behind them was 19-year-old Joey Logano.

And to hear folks in the NASCAR garage tell it, the sport had better get used to seeing the lanky youngster mix it up with the leaders each week during the 36-race Cup schedule.

Logano, the stock car racing phenom who took over the prized Cup ride vacated by two-time champion Tony Stewart last year, started 19th and finished fifth in Sunday’s race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana.

“It feels like a win after what we had the first time we came here” a year ago, Logano said, referring to how he finished 26th in that race.

Logano drives the No. 20 Toyota for the top-tier team of Joe Gibbs Racing and his crew chief is Greg “Zippy” Zipadelli, who formerly was Stewart’s crew chief. In 2009, the Connecticut native was the youngest Cup driver in history to win his first race and be named rookie of the year. He finished 20th in the point standings.

This year, Logano finished 20th in the season-opening Daytona 500 nine days ago and, after his fifth-place finish Sunday, he’s now ninth in the Cup standings. “I am really, really stoked about how we ran,” Logano said after the race. “The pit crew was amazing; we gained spots just about every time we came down pit road.”

There’s another sign that Logano has fully arrived: a brewing rivalry with another driver.

Logano had the dominant car in the second-tier NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Fontana on Saturday, when he led five times for 130 of the 152 laps in the Stater Bros. 300. But in an overtime restart, Logano lost the lead to Greg Biffle after Biffle, according to Logano, gave him a shove from behind. Logano finished fifth.

“I don’t know what his deal is with me, but for some reason in California, [Biffle] feels like putting me in the fence or hitting me toward the end. We had an awesome race car that should have won the race,” Logano said.

Biffle, who lost the lead himself to race winner Kyle Busch on the last lap, denied Logano’s charge and said Logano made “a rookie mistake” by spinning his tires on the restart in front of Biffle.

As for intentionally trying to wreck Logano, Biffle said, “That’s obviously not the case. I mean, if I wanted to do that, it’s pretty easy to do.”

In any case, Logano summed up the Biffle incident sounding like a Cup veteran instead of a second-year driver. “I always remember that stuff,” Logano said.

james.peltz@latimes.com