Joey Logano finished third Sunday in a race he won last year. So why he was so happy?

Despite a third-place finish in a race he won last year, Joey Logano is bound to remember how happy he was Sunday – Father’s Day – for the rest of his life.

Turns out, Logano had two reasons to feel joy after his third-place finish in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway.

First, Logano hasn’t had a top-10 finish in a points race since winning the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond in late April, though the Team Penske driver did finish eighth in the All-Star Race in Charlotte in May. Wrecks in the next two points races started a run of frustrating finishes.

Sunday, Logano traded paint with Denny Hamlin after a restart with five laps left to grab the third-place finish in the FireKeepers Casino 400.

“We had a 10th-place car. We finished third with it. Proud of that,” Logano told reporters after the race. “We had a rough month and a half. We stopped the bleeding today.”

Still, if Logano had won, Victory Lane might have been the perfect place to celebrate the other cause for joy.

The driver and his wife, Brittany, tweeted after the race that they were expecting their first baby.

As of late Sunday, the announcement had generated almost 6,000 likes and 700 comments. No one can respond to that many, but Logano managed a few replies Sunday night.

Many people, including drivers, NASCAR family members and fans, expressed their congratulations and urged the couple to get some sleep ... now.