Joey Logano Stuns with Darlington ‘Bump and Win’ Move

DARLINGTON, SOUTH CAROLINA - MAY 08: Joey Logano, driver of the #22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, takes the checkered flag to win the NASCAR Cup Series Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway on May 08, 2022 in Darlington, South Carolina. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)

Joey Logano was not going to be denied. Logano chased down and passed William Byron with a shot to Byron’s rear bumper heading to the white flag and held on to break a 39-race winless streak at Darlington Sunday.

Logano led from pole, a race high 107 laps, won Stage 1, but lost the lead to Byron on a restart with 25 to go.

“We were really close off of 2,” Byron said. “I think it spooked him and got him tight, and he was right against the wall, and I got the lead.”

 Logano would stay close however, and with less than five laps to go was nearing Byron.

Coming into Turn 3 heading to the white flag, Logano bumped Byron, who slipped up and into the wall. Logano charged to victory winning by .775 of a second over Tyler Reddick.

“Yeah, you’re not going to put me in the wall and not get anything back,” Logano said. “That’s how that works.”

Justin Haley was third; Kevin Harvick, and Chase Elliott, both of whom started from the rear of the field rounded out the top five.

Elliott also rallied from a spin that happened as he left pit road during a round of green flag stops on lap 242.

In the second stage, Ross Chastain was again the class of the field winning Stage 2 and leading 26 laps. But on a restart on lap 195 while battling Denny Hamlin for the lead he spun coming out of Turn 2 into the inside wall and ended his day.

Then just after the restart for Chastain’s incident on lap 261, Martin Truex Jr. who was running inside the top five at the time, slipped up and got into Ricky Stenhouse Jr. setting off a crash that swept up Cole Custer, Bubba Wallace, and Kurt Busch; Chase Briscoe, Hamlin, and Erik Jones also got damage.

In all, 12 cars were scored as DNFs second only to the carnage at Talladega several weeks ago when there was 13.

Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski were among them as on lap 174 just after the restart from Stage 2, Busch was minding his own business when Brad Keselowski’s Ford lost a tire heading into Turn 2. Keselowski went up and into the frontstretch wall pinning Busch’s Toyota and causing too much damage for Busch to continue.

Kyle Larson who led 30 laps, was also scored with a DNF, but his was mechanical as the engine in his No. 5 Chevy gave out on lap 112, sending him to the garage.

Christopher Bell, Michael McDowell, Stenhouse, Austin Dillon and Daniel Suarez rounded out the top 10.

Byron, who led 24 laps, was credited with 13th place and obviously wasn’t happy with Logano after it was over.

“He’s just an idiot,” Byron said. “He does this stuff all the time. I’ve seen it with other guys. He drove in there 10 miles an hour too fast, and with these Next-Gen cars, he slammed me so hard it knocked the whole right side off the car and no way to make the corner.

“Yeah, he’s just a moron. He can’t win a race so it does it that way. I don’t know, we’ll — yeah, it was close racing on the restart. We were faster than him. Obviously at the end the right rear started to go away, and yeah, he didn’t even make it a contest.”

Logano meanwhile celebrated his first win since the Bristol Dirt race last season.

“So proud of this race team. Great execution all day long,” Logano said. “It was a really special day, having my dad drive the Mach 1 before the race. A lot of cool things happened today. Definitely ended it up on a keynote.”

NASCAR heads to Kansas Speedway where the Cup series will race on Sunday. Kyle Busch is the defending winner.

Kyle Busch May Have Learned a Lesson, Or Not

 

Photos: NASCAR at Darlington Raceway Sunday May 8, 2022

NASCAR Cup Series Race Results Goodyear 400

Darlington Raceway

Darlington, South Carolina

Sunday, May 8, 2022

  1. (1)  Joey Logano, Ford, 293.
  2. (10)  Tyler Reddick, Chevrolet, 293.
  3. (29)  Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 293.
  4. (35)  Kevin Harvick, Ford, 293.
  5. (34)  Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 293.
  6. (3)  Christopher Bell, Toyota, 293.
  7. (16)  Michael McDowell, Ford, 293.
  8. (26)  Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 293.
  9. (14)  Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 293.
  10. (20)  Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 293.
  11. (12)  Aric Almirola, Ford, 293.
  12. (21)  Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 293.
  13. (9)  William Byron, Chevrolet, 293.
  14. (25)  Harrison Burton #, Ford, 293.
  15. (27)  Todd Gilliland #, Ford, 293.
  16. (18)  Chris Buescher, Ford, 293.
  17. (7)  Ryan Blaney, Ford, 293.
  18. (19)  Austin Cindric #, Ford, 293.
  19. (31)  Cody Ware, Ford, 293.
  20. (13)  Chase Briscoe, Ford, 293.
  21. (22)  Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 292.
  22. (33)  Landon Cassill(i), Chevrolet, 292.
  23. (32)  JJ Yeley(i), Ford, 288.
  24. (4)  Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, Accident, 263.
  25. (11)  Erik Jones, Chevrolet, Accident, 262.
  26. (28)  Cole Custer, Ford, Accident, 260.
  27. (17)  Bubba Wallace, Toyota, Accident, 260.
  28. (6)  Kurt Busch, Toyota, Accident, 260.
  29. (15)  Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, Accident, 255.
  30. (8)  Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, Accident, 194.
  31. (24)  Daniel Hemric(i), Chevrolet, Engine, 188.
  32. (36)  BJ McLeod, Ford, Brakes, 184.
  33. (5)  Kyle Busch, Toyota, Accident, 167.
  34. (23)  Brad Keselowski, Ford, Accident, 166.
  35. (30)  Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, Accident, 152.
  36. (2)  Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, Engine, 112.

Average Speed of Race Winner:  119.158 mph.

Time of Race:  3 Hrs, 21 Mins, 32 Secs. Margin of Victory:  .775 Seconds.

Caution Flags:  9 for 47 laps.

Lead Changes:  24 among 13 drivers.

Lap Leaders:   K. Larson 1-6;J. Logano 7;K. Larson 8-31;J. Logano 32;J. Yeley(i) 33;J. Logano 34-61;K. Busch 62-79;J. Logano 80-93;C. Ware 94;J. Logano 95-135;K. Busch 136;E. Jones 137;K. Harvick 138;M. Truex Jr. 139-165;R. Chastain 166-191;D. Hamlin 192-199;J. Logano 200-208;D. Hamlin 209-242;M. Truex Jr. 243;C. Bell 244-246;T. Reddick 247-256;J. Logano 257-267;W. Byron 268-291;J. Logano 292-293.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Joey Logano 8 times for 107 laps; Denny Hamlin 2 times for 42 laps; Kyle Larson 2 times for 30 laps; Martin Truex Jr. 2 times for 28 laps; Ross Chastain 1 time for 26 laps; William Byron 1 time for 24 laps; Kyle Busch 2 times for 19 laps; Tyler Reddick 1 time for 10 laps; Christopher Bell 1 time for 3 laps; Cody Ware 1 time for 1 lap; JJ Yeley(i) 1 time for 1 lap; Kevin Harvick 1 time for 1 lap; Erik Jones 1 time for 1 lap.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 22,1,20,18,19,24,11,43,8,23

Stage #2 Top Ten: 1,19,22,11,24,43,20,9,10,99

Greg Engle