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Jim Utter

NASCAR Cup Darlington: Logano nudges Byron to grab victory

Joey Logano ran down William Byron and nudged him out of the way with one lap remaining at Darlington Speedway to claim his first NASCAR Cup Series win of 2022.

Byron had moved into the lead for the first time on Lap 268 of 293 but as the final laps ticked down, Logano was quickly gaining on the leader.

With one lap remaining, Logano pulled up right behind Byron’s #24 Chevrolet entering Turn 3, bumped him from behind and up the track to grab the lead.

Byron ended up hitting the wall on the final lap and Logano held off Tyler Reddick by 0.775 seconds to win Sunday’s race at Darlington, snapping a 40-race winless streak.

Having started on pole, Logano held off a late charge from Ross Chastain to take the Stage 1 win, his first stage victory of the 2022 season.

The Penske driver held that lead through the opening flurry of laps in the second stage, with Chastain still in pursuit, but dropped behind Martin Truex Jr and Tyler Reddick during a cycle of green-flag pitstops.

After Chastain then took advantage of a Brad Keselowski incident - in which the RFK Racing co-owner collected Kyle Busch to bring out a caution - to dip into the pits and cycle out in front to take the stage two win, the Trackhouse driver crashed out at the start of the third stage while racing with Denny Hamlin.

Hamlin had the lead through the caution, but on the restart Logano retook control of the race - albeit for nine laps as Hamlin then moved up to the front once more.

Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing, FedEx Express Toyota Camry (Photo by: John Harrelson / NKP / Motorsport Images)

But once Hendrick's Alex Bowman slammed into the Turn 2 wall on Lap 255 to bring out the eighth caution of the race, all lead-lap cars came in to pit - with Logano the first to get out of the pitlane.

On the following restart Truex checked up on the exit of Turn 2, which triggered a multi-car wreck - as Byron was in Logano's wheeltracks for the return to green-flag running on lap 268.

Byron then powered to the lead out of Turn 2 after the restart as Logano dropped to second, and maintained about a half-second advantage with five laps left.

But Logano's pass at the climax of the race secured him his first Cup win in over a year, his previous victory being the Bristol Dirt Race last March.

Kaulig Racing's Justin Haley ended up third ahead of Kevin Harvick, while Dover winner Chase Elliott was fifth, after having to start the race from the rear of the field in his back-up car. Elliott retains his lead of the points standings.

Christopher Bell claimed sixth ahead of Michael McDowell, as Ricky Stenhouse, Austin Dillon and Daniel Suarez completed the top 10 - Suarez rescuing a solid result for Trackhouse after Chastain's crash.

Byron was classified 13th after his last-lap contact with the wall, behind Aric Almirola and Ty Dillon.

NASCAR Cup Darlington race results - 293 laps

Cla Driver Manufacturer Time Gap
1 United States Joey Logano Ford 3:21'31.561  
2 United States Tyler Reddick Chevrolet 3:21'32.336 0.775
3 United States Justin Haley Chevrolet 3:21'36.856 5.295
4 United States Kevin Harvick Ford 3:21'37.194 5.633
5 United States Chase Elliott Chevrolet 3:21'37.443 5.882
6 United States Christopher Bell Toyota 3:21'37.690 6.129
7 United States Michael McDowell Ford 3:21'38.955 7.394
8 United States Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Chevrolet 3:21'39.693 8.132
9 United States Austin Dillon Chevrolet 3:21'40.289 8.728
10 Mexico Daniel Suarez Chevrolet 3:21'41.950 10.389
11 United States Aric Almirola Ford 3:21'43.659 12.098
12 United States Ty Dillon Chevrolet 3:21'45.697 14.136
13 United States William Byron Chevrolet 3:21'46.675 15.114
14 United States Harrison Burton Ford 3:21'47.108 15.547
15 United States Todd Gilliland Ford 3:21'47.534 15.973
16 United States Chris Buescher Ford 3:21'47.987 16.426
17 United States Ryan Blaney Ford 3:21'53.779 22.218
18 United States Austin Cindric Ford 3:21'54.202 22.641
19 United States Cody Ware Ford 3:21'57.691 26.130
20 United States Chase Briscoe Ford 3:22'04.678 33.117
21 United States Denny Hamlin Toyota 3:21'54.355 1 Lap
22 United States Landon Cassill Chevrolet 3:21'59.962 1 Lap
23 United States J.J. Yeley Ford 3:21'37.011 5 Laps
24 United States Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 3:09'41.145 30 Laps
25 United States Erik Jones Chevrolet 3:00'05.885 31 Laps
26 United States Cole Custer Ford 2:57'57.790 33 Laps
27 United States Bubba Wallace Toyota 2:57'57.949 33 Laps
28 United States Kurt Busch Toyota 2:57'58.003 33 Laps
29 United States Alex Bowman Chevrolet 2:51'44.186 38 Laps
30 United States Ross Chastain Chevrolet 2:14'05.329 99 Laps
31 United States Daniel Hemric Chevrolet 2:22'59.871 105 Laps
32 United States B.J. McLeod Ford 2:01'42.809 109 Laps
33 United States Kyle Busch Toyota 1:44'05.847 126 Laps
34 United States Brad Keselowski Ford 1:44'24.581 127 Laps
35 United States Corey Lajoie Chevrolet 1:36'48.813 141 Laps
36 United States Kyle Larson Chevrolet 1:18'44.863 181 Laps

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