The NASCAR Cup race at Texas unraveled in the final stage with several twists and turns at the sharp end of the running order. But when the smoke cleared, it was Joey Logano (who started 27th) taking the race win. Ross Chastain, who started even deeper in the field (31st), ended up as the runner-up.
Logano got the lead in dramatic fashion with just four laps to go. Hanging on with two older left-side tires, Michael McDowell blocked Logano all the way to the apron as he tried to snag a win for the underdogs. The always-aggressive Logano never lifted and McDowell relented before corner entry, giving him the inside line and the race lead.
NEW LEADER: LOGANO. pic.twitter.com/ueDUePmPnF
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) May 4, 2025
Soon after, McDowell lost control and slammed the outside wall, pushing the race into overtime. On the restart, Logano had to hold back his Penske teammate Ryan Blaney and Chastain, who snatched second away but was unable to run down Logano. In the end, he led just the final seven laps.
“The sport changes so quickly," said Logano, who now has 37 career Cup wins. "It is crazy how you can just ride these roller coasters. I am so proud of the team. Proud to finally get AAA Insurance into victory lane. They have been a partner of mine since I have been at Penske, so 13 or 14 years and we have yet to win with them so it was awesome to get that done here. The JL Kids Crew is here so we will have fun with them in victory lane. A lot of people here. My family is at home, but hey, Brittany and the kids, I love you guys. It is going to be a fun night.”
On how he was able to fight his way through the pack and get to the front, Logano said, “Slowly. Methodically. A couple of times we had a really tough pit stall situation and the pit crew did a good job of managing that. We just grabbed a couple here and there. The car was fast, I knew that yesterday, I just did a poor job qualifying. We just were grinding it out, a couple here and a couple there and eventually we get the win. It is nice to get one, really nice.”
For Chastain, this stands as his best result of the season and his fourth top ten in the last five races. Blaney, who finished third, is now the only Penske driver without a win this season. Austin Cindric claimed victory one week ago at Talladega Superspeedway.
"Starting 31st, we wanted to go +30 positions today," said Chastain. "It’s all on this crew – the engineering group at Trackhouse Racing and the group at Chevrolet. We made an adjustment during the race and it fixed the car. All the problems we had yesterday and the start of the race, they were gone. I was confident. I was not confident yesterday.. you heard me in the booth say it. With just one adjustment, it brought this Tootsies Chevy to life and that’s why you keep fighting.”
Kyle Larson finished fourth and Erik Jones fifth while the rest of the top ten was as follows: Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Austin Dillon, John Hunter Nemechek, Christopher Bell, and Daniel Suarez.
A flurry of wrecks in the final stage
The early portion of the race saw Denny Hamlin become the first of many drivers to record a DNF when his car went up in flames. Cindric won the opening stage of the event while Larson went on to win the second stage.
But it was in that final stage where complete madness took hold of the tricky intermediate track. William Byron was in control of the lead when he began a cycle of green-flag pit stops. Several other drivers followed him down, but a spin with 48 laps to go by Xfinity Series regular Jesse Love (who was making just his second Cup start) completely threw the race out of whack.
Ryan Preece nearly inherited the race lead due to the timing of his pit stop, but scoring displayed him as falling one lap down (barely) before exiting the pit lane. The caution also trapped several other contenders deep in the pack including Byron, CIndric, pole-sitter Carson Hocevar and defending winner Chase Elliott.
As the remaining lead lap cars filed down pit road, the No. 71 Spire Motorsports team made the bold decision to only take two tires with McDowell, vaulting him up to second on track.
The restart that followed would be the first of many as Larson led the way. Kyle Busch was having a strong run in third, but like Josh Berry earlier in the day, he ran over the troublesome bump in the higher lane in Turn 4, sending his car careening into the outside wall.
KYLE BUSCH GOES AROUND. 👀 #NASCARonFS1 pic.twitter.com/3UeRLIuthB
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) May 4, 2025
The next caution claimed the race's pole-sitter as Hocevar pushed wide at the exit of Turn 2, crashing himself, Preece, and Cody Ware in the process. Just before that yellow flag flew, Blaney had made his way around McDowell for the runner-up spot, but strangely chose to give up the front row for the restart and choose the inside of the second row.
That was clearly a mistake as McDowell surged ahead of Larson, stunningly taking the race lead as another wreck broke out mid-pack, collecting Brad Keselowski, Cole Custer, Cindric, and Busch. The race became caution-plagued with Tyler Reddick triggering the next caution, despite miraculously saving his car after getting turned from behind.
The final ten laps had arrived and McDowell now had the Penske duo directly behind him. He was unable to hold off their charge, ultimately wrecking out of the race as he got loose in the dirty air behind Blaney. Oddly enough, the final restart was one of the calmest as Logano captured the checkered flag in front of Chastain and Blaney with little drama.
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| Cla | Driver | # | Manufacturer | Laps | Time | Interval | Pits | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | J. LoganoTeam Penske | 22 | Ford | 271 |
3:28'39.759 |
7 | 42 | ||
| 2 | R. ChastainTrackHouse Racing | 1 | Chevrolet | 271 |
+0.346 3:28'40.105 |
0.346 | 8 | 35 | |
| 3 | R. BlaneyTeam Penske | 12 | Ford | 271 |
+0.776 3:28'40.535 |
0.430 | 9 | 37 | |
| 4 | K. LarsonHendrick Motorsports | 5 | Chevrolet | 271 |
+1.655 3:28'41.414 |
0.879 | 8 | 50 | |
| 5 | E. JonesLegacy Motor Club | 43 | Toyota | 271 |
+1.828 3:28'41.587 |
0.173 | 10 | 33 | |
| 6 | R. Stenhouse JrHyak Motorsports | 47 | Chevrolet | 271 |
+1.937 3:28'41.696 |
0.109 | 8 | 31 | |
| 7 | A. DillonRichard Childress Racing | 3 | Chevrolet | 271 |
+2.126 3:28'41.885 |
0.189 | 8 | 30 | |
| 8 | J. NemechekLegacy Motor Club | 42 | Toyota | 271 |
+2.202 3:28'41.961 |
0.076 | 9 | 29 | |
| 9 | C. BellJoe Gibbs Racing | 20 | Toyota | 271 |
+2.303 3:28'42.062 |
0.101 | 10 | 28 | |
| 10 | D. SuarezTrackHouse Racing | 99 | Chevrolet | 271 |
+2.347 3:28'42.106 |
0.044 | 8 | 27 | |
| 11 | T. GillilandFront Row Motorsports | 34 | Ford | 271 |
+2.460 3:28'42.219 |
0.113 | 8 | 26 | |
| 12 | T. DillonKaulig Racing | 10 | Chevrolet | 271 |
+2.807 3:28'42.566 |
0.347 | 12 | 25 | |
| 13 | W. ByronHendrick Motorsports | 24 | Chevrolet | 271 |
+2.813 3:28'42.572 |
0.006 | 9 | 32 | |
| 14 | R. Herbst23XI Racing | 35 | Toyota | 271 |
+2.914 3:28'42.673 |
0.101 | 12 | 23 | |
| 15 | J. HaleySpire Motorsports | 7 | Chevrolet | 271 |
+3.002 3:28'42.761 |
0.088 | 12 | 22 | |
| 16 | C. ElliottHendrick Motorsports | 9 | Chevrolet | 271 |
+3.148 3:28'42.907 |
0.146 | 10 | 21 | |
| 17 | Z. SmithFront Row Motorsports | 38 | Ford | 271 |
+3.164 3:28'42.923 |
0.016 | 10 | 20 | |
| 18 | C. BuescherRFK Racing | 17 | Ford | 271 |
+3.299 3:28'43.058 |
0.135 | 12 | 25 | |
| 19 | C. CusterHaas Factory Team | 41 | Ford | 271 |
+3.519 3:28'43.278 |
0.220 | 12 | 18 | |
| 20 | K. BuschRichard Childress Racing | 8 | Chevrolet | 271 |
+3.521 3:28'43.280 |
0.002 | 14 | 18 | |
| 21 | T. Reddick23XI Racing | 45 | Toyota | 271 |
+3.580 3:28'43.339 |
0.059 | 10 | 34 | |
| 22 | S. van GisbergenTrackHouse Racing | 88 | Chevrolet | 271 |
+3.900 3:28'43.659 |
0.320 | 10 | 15 | |
| 23 | T. GibbsJoe Gibbs Racing | 54 | Toyota | 271 |
+4.181 3:28'43.940 |
0.281 | 8 | 17 | |
| 24 | C. HocevarSpire Motorsports | 77 | Chevrolet | 270 |
+1 Lap 3:28'45.188 |
1 Lap | 10 | 24 | |
| 25 | A. CindricTeam Penske | 2 | Ford | 268 |
+3 Laps 3:28'52.686 |
2 Laps | 9 | 22 | |
| 26 | M. McDowellSpire Motorsports | 71 | Chevrolet | 265 |
+6 Laps 3:21'56.895 |
3 Laps | 12 | 13 | |
| 27 | C. BriscoeJoe Gibbs Racing | 19 | Toyota | 254 |
+17 Laps 3:27'45.239 |
11 Laps | 14 | 10 | |
| 28 | B. KeselowskiRFK Racing | 6 | Ford | 246 |
+25 Laps 3:03'30.377 |
8 Laps | 8 | 9 | |
| 29 | R. PreeceRFK Racing | 60 | Ford | 237 |
+34 Laps 2:52'05.013 |
9 Laps | 13 | 15 | |
| 30 | C. WareRick Ware Racing | 51 | Ford | 237 |
+34 Laps 2:52'35.461 |
30.448 | 13 | 7 | |
| 31 |
J. LoveBeard Motorsports
|
62 | Chevrolet | 217 |
+54 Laps 2:31'00.119 |
20 Laps | 8 | ||
| 32 |
J. BerryWood Brothers Racing
|
21 | Ford | 187 |
+84 Laps 3:28'47.863 |
30 Laps | 8 | 13 | |
| 33 | B. Wallace23XI Racing | 23 | Toyota | 179 |
+92 Laps 2:13'14.410 |
8 Laps | 10 | 10 | |
| 34 | N. GragsonFront Row Motorsports | 4 | Ford | 172 |
+99 Laps 2:03'31.505 |
7 Laps | 10 | 3 | |
| 35 | A. BowmanHendrick Motorsports | 48 | Chevrolet | 172 |
+99 Laps 2:04'07.088 |
35.583 | 12 | 10 | |
| 36 | A. AllmendingerKaulig Racing | 16 | Chevrolet | 172 |
+99 Laps 2:06'00.170 |
1'53.082 | 8 | 1 | |
| 37 | C. FinchumGarage 66 | 66 | Ford | 167 |
+104 Laps 2:01'42.650 |
5 Laps | 9 | 1 | |
| 38 | D. HamlinJoe Gibbs Racing | 11 | Toyota | 73 |
+198 Laps 41'01.878 |
94 Laps | 4 | 1 |
