Joey Logano walked away victorious after taking the checkered flag Sunday in the NASCAR Cup Series’ premiere race at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.
But it certainly wasn’t an easy win, as the No. 22 Team Penske Ford driver had to duke it out with rival Kyle Busch in a thrilling final restart.
The inaugural Cup race at the Madison, Illinois track was scheduled for 240 total laps. It was extended for overtime after Kevin Harvick crashed hard into the wall with a brake rotor failure with just four laps to go.
That set things up for an intense overtime restart and a two-lap shootout for the win.
A hard hit for Harvick at Gateway. https://t.co/fcYS96Mtag pic.twitter.com/hwJ2HT9owT
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) June 5, 2022
Busch in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was on the outside, while Logano was on the inside with his teammate, Ryan Blaney, right behind him.
Retweet to congratulate @CocaColaRacing's @joeylogano on his WIN at Gateway!#CocaColaRacing | @Team_Penske pic.twitter.com/MmRsosjJvE
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) June 5, 2022
Logano got off to a strong start and was able to pull ahead of Busch, who then went to the inside to try and get around the No. 22 car. Banging on each other, the two rivals traded the lead on the penultimate lap. But in Turn 4, Busch slid a little too far up the track, allowing Logano to steal the lead back from the inside.
By the time the field got to the white flag signaling the last lap of the race, Logano had a comfortable lead on Busch and was able to hold on to take the checkered flag for his second victory of the 2022 season.
“It doesn’t get much better than that!” Logano told FOX Sports after the race. “Racing for the lead like that with Kyle, one of the best. It was a lot of fun. And crossing each other back and forth. I knew it was coming. So I did it to him; I knew he was going to do it to me. We crossed back and forth there in the last lap there a couple of times. …
“Who would have thought we had slide jobs like that here? I thought we’d be running towards the bottom, and we were running way up top and crossing each other. It was a lot of fun to race here, and looking forward to coming back.”
"It doesn't get much better than that!"
Talking with @joeylogano after he claims the first ever NASCAR Cup Series WIN at Gateway.@Team_Penske | https://t.co/TJB4JEtFcJ pic.twitter.com/i8C8Sn8YSq
— Jamie Little (@JamieLittleTV) June 5, 2022
Busch is currently second in the Cup Series standings, while Logano is sixth. Logano joins Denny Hamlin, William Byron and Ross Chastain as the drivers with more than one win this season so far.
