Logano bumps Byron on final lap for victory at Darlington
Joey Logano bumped leader William Byron from behind on the next to last lap to win the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway on Sunday.
Logano, the pole-sitter, tracked Byron for about 25 laps until catching him and hitting him hard in the rear bumper turn three. Byron slid into the wall and Logano went on to his first win of the season and first at the track “Too Tough To Tame.”
“This win is going to give us a lot of momentum,” Logano said.
Byron, who signed a contract extension with Hendrick Motorsports, seemed as if he’d keep up his team’s dominant season over the final laps. Instead, Logano broke a 40-race winless drought.
Tyler Reddick was second followed by Justin Haley, Kevin Harvick, Chase Elliott, Christopher Bell, Michael Mcdowell, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Austin Dillon and Daniel Suarez.
Byron fell to 13th and was not happy with Logano’s tactics.
“He’s just an idiot,” Byron said. “He does this stuff all the time, I’ve seen him do it with other guys.”
The crowd let Logano know
what they thought, booing the Penske driver as he got out of his car for post-race interviews.
Logano led 108 of the 293 laps and reached Victory Lane for the first time since winning on the dirt at Bristol in 2021.
It was the first time the new Next Gen car was took on NASCAR’S oldest superspeedway and the results were mixed. The racing was strong, although several of the top competitors didn’t last to the end.
Reigning NASCAR champion Kyle Larson was out with engine failure after 112 laps. Past champions Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski were also out well before the finish.
Larson was the betting favorite to win for the first time at Darlington. But the defending Cup series champion continued his tough luck at NASCAR’S oldest superspeedway. Larson, starting second, led 30 of the first 32 laps before spinning out on lap 54 and falling
to 29th.
Larson had worked his way into the top 10 early in stage two before returning to the pits where his crew popped the hood. They couldn’t get the car refired — “I’ve got, like, no power,” Larson told them — and rolled him into the garage.
It’s been that kind of stretch for Larson, who was second in his past three races at Darlington. At a
tire test here last month, Larson hit the wall twice early on.
It’s the fourth time in 12 races this season Larson was out before the end.
“Bummer,” Larson said. “But the positive is we were really fast.”
Kyle Busch’s day ended after he couldn’t avoid getting hit by Brad Keselowski after the Roush Fenway racer tagged the wall.