Joey Logano Wins at Darlington With a Little Shove and a Good Luck Charm

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DARLINGTON, SC – RIS – Joey Logano did it all at Darlington on Sunday.  He won the pole on Saturday, won the Southern 500 on Sunday, and pretty much shoved William out of way  en route to his first victory of 2022 on a day he wore his “Smokin’ Joe” t-hirt under his firesuit for the first time (his father used that nickname when he was a child prodigy). 

As if the race did not have its moments, the finish was quite dramatic.  With one lap left, Joey Logano was edging to William Byron's No. 24 car. The two had been on opposite ends of the spectrum throughout the day at the Goodyear 400.  Logano had been fast all day and the move left Byron for a 9th place finish.

What happened was Logano bumped into Byron's car, sending Byron spinning into the inner wall and securing a victory at Darlington for Logano.

It was an eventful race, one that was dominated by a series of gnarly wrecks which left some of the sport's biggest stars on the pit road. A nine-car crash on Lap 261 knocked out Bubba Wallace, Kurt Busch and Martin Truex Jr. among others, setting the stage for a frantic finish. When asked about his decision to ram into Byron's bumper, Logano left no doubt about his intentions. He felt Byron had knocked into him earlier in the race and wanted to return the favor at the most inopportune time for the Hendrick Motorsports driver.

“You're not gonna put me in the wall and not get anything back,” Logano said. “That's how that works."

"We were really close off of (turn) two and I think it spooked him and got him tight; and he was right against the wall and I got the lead," Byron said.  "He does this stuff all the time. I've seen it with other guys. He drove in there 10 mph too fast, and with these Next Gen cars, he slammed me so hard it knocked the whole right side off the car and there was no way to make the corner.

He can't win a race, so it does it that way. I don't know. 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.”

Byron was not amused. He called Logano an "idiot" and "moron" earlier for his choice, indicating that Logano had to resort to below-the-belt tactics to win a race — something he hadn't done on asphalt since the Hollywood Casino 400 back in 2020."

Unofficial Results: 3rd Annual Goodyear 400, May 8, 2022 - Darlington Raceway

Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms, Laps, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 1, Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 293, 1, 3, 8, 107, 6, 58, Running
2) 10, Tyler Reddick, No. 8 3CHI Chevrolet, 293, 9, , 1, 10, , 37, Running
3) 29, Justin Haley, No. 31 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet, 293, , , , , , 34, Running
4) 35, Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Rheem Chasing a Cure Ford, 293, , , 1, 1, , 33, Running
5) 34, Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet, 293, , 8, , , , 35, Running
6) 3, Christopher Bell, No. 20 SiriusXM Toyota, 293, 3, 7, 1, 3, , 43, Running
7) 16, Michael McDowell, No. 34 Navage Nasal Care Ford, 293, , , , , , 30, Running
8) 26, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Kroger/Nature Valley Chevrolet, 293, , , , , , 29, Running
9) 14, Austin Dillon, No. 3 Huk Performance Fishing Chevrolet, 293, , , , , , 28, Running
10) 20, Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Coca-Cola Chevrolet, 293, , 10, , , , 28, Running
11) 12, Aric Almirola, No. 10 Haas Automation/Smithfield Ford, 293, , 9, , , , 28, Running
12) 21, Ty Dillon, No. 42 Petty GMS Chevrolet, 293, , , , , , 25, Running
13) 9, William Byron, No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet, 293, 6, 5, 1, 24, , 35, Running
14) 25, Harrison Burton #, No. 21 DEX Imaging Ford, 293, , , , , , 23, Running
15) 27, Todd Gilliland #, No. 38 Black's Tire Ford, 293, , , , , , 22, Running
16) 18, Chris Buescher, No. 17 Socios.com Ford, 293, , , , , , 21, Running
17) 7, Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Advance Auto Parts Ford, 293, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 19, Austin Cindric #, No. 2 Menards/Libman Ford, 293, , , , , , 19, Running
19) 31, Cody Ware, No. 51 Nurtec ODT Ford, 293, , , 1, 1, , 18, Running
20) 13, Chase Briscoe, No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford, 293, , , , , , 17, Running
21) 22, Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota, 292, 7, 4, 2, 42, , 27, Running
22) 33, Landon Cassill(i), No. 77 Voyager: Crypto for All Chevrolet, 292, , , , , , 0, Running
23) 32, JJ Yeley(i), No. 15 Ollie's Bargain Outlet Ford, 288, , , 1, 1, , 0, Running
24) 4, Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota, 263, 5, 2, 2, 28, , 28, Accident
25) 11, Erik Jones, No. 43 FOCUSfactor Chevrolet, 262, 8, 6, 1, 1, , 20, Accident
26) 28, Cole Custer, No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford, 260, , , , , , 11, Accident
27) 17, Bubba Wallace, No. 23 MoneyLion Toyota, 260, 10, , , , , 11, Accident
28) 6, Kurt Busch, No. 45 McDonald's Throwback Toyota, 260, , , , , , 9, Accident
29) 15, Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Throwback Chevrolet, 255, , , , , , 8, Accident
30) 8, Ross Chastain, No. 1 Coca-Cola Chevrolet, 194, 2, 1, 1, 26, 1, 26, Accident
31) 24, Daniel Hemric(i), No. 16 AGI by Athletic Greens Chevrolet, 188, , , , , , 0, Engine
32) 36, BJ McLeod, No. 78 Ford, 184, , , , , , 5, Brakes
33) 5, Kyle Busch, No. 18 M&M's Toyota, 167, 4, , 2, 19, , 11, Accident
34) 23, Brad Keselowski, No. 6 Socios.com Ford, 166, , , , , , 3, Accident
35) 30, Corey LaJoie, No. 7 Stacking Pennies Chevrolet, 152, , , , , , 2, Accident
36) 2, Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet, 112, , , 2, 30, , 1, Engine
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Time: 3 Hrs, 21 Mins, 32 Secs
Race Length: 293 Laps, 400.238 Miles
Average Speed: 119.158 MPH
Margin of Victory: .775 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 22, 1, 20, 18, 19, 24, 11, 43, 8, 23
Stage 2 Top 10: 1, 19, 22, 11, 24, 43, 20, 9, 10, 99

Comments: Joey Logano won the 3rd running of the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway, his 28th victory in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Prior to the, the following cars dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reasons indicated: Nos. 4, 78 (no qualifying time and unapproved adjustments), 11 (unapproved adjustments), 9 (backup car).

Cautions: 9 for 47 laps;
Laps: 4-7 (No. 6 Spin Backstretch [None]);
32-35 (Competition Caution [78]);
56-59 (No. 5 Spin Turn 4 [6]);
92-96 (Stage 1 Conclusion [78]);
168-174 (No. 18, 6 Incident Turn 2 [21]);
187-194 (Stage 2 Conclusion [31]);
196-199 (No. 1 Spin Turn 2 [2]);
256-260 (No. 48 Incident Turn 2 [None]);
262-267 (No. 41, 45, 19, 23, 9, 43, 11, 14, 12 Incident Turn 2 [17]).

Lead Changes: 24 among 13 drivers;
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.

Busch Light Pole Award:  Joey Logano, No. 22
Sunoco Rookie of the Race:  Harrison Burton, No. 21

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Ron Fleshman with John Davison

RIS NASCAR Editor.  Has been with RIS since the middle 90's. Writes on each of the three main series of NASCAR.

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Volume 2022, Issue 5, Posted 8:22 PM, 05.08.2022