Logano Outlasts Busch in Overtime at Gateway

Photo Credit to Jeff Curry/Getty Images for NASCAR 

NASCAR

Logano Takes Inaugural Gateway Cup Win from Busch in Overtime Thriller

MADISON, Ill. – “It doesn’t get much better than that,” Joey Logano exclaimed after winning the first NASCAR Cup race at Gateway. “Just a good race, crossing each other up, who’d have thought we’d have slide jobs like that here?” Victory was on the line in overtime with Kyle Busch leading, and Logano got the job done for his second win of 2022.

The opening laps of the Enjoy Illinois 300 were calm, as no cautions fell in Stage 1. Midway through this opening run however, the race leader ran into a big issue. Polesitter Chase Briscoe cut a left rear tire, forcing the 14 to pit road. This handed the Stage win to Austin Cindric, as Briscoe had to battle back the rest of the day.

The intensity knob would be turned up in Stage 2 to say the least. While racing Denny Hamlin for fifth, Ross Chastain punted the 11 out of the way. Hamlin went hard into the turn two wall, ending his chance at a strong finish. None too happy with this move by Chastain, Hamlin would continue to mess up the rest of the race for the 1 car. On multiple occasions, the 11 swerved to impede the 1’s progress, never wrecking him back though.

Just a matter of laps later, Ross Chastain managed to make another driver angry. While racing three-wide on a restart, Chastain got into Chase Elliott, sending the 9 around. Also understandably mad with the aggression from the 1, the 9 ran Chastain out of the groove on the next restart. This was quickly followed by Hamlin slamming Chastain again. Two of the most popular drivers in the sport were both very aggravated at the same time, and showed their frustration.

By virtue of staying out on a late caution, Kurt Busch inherited the lead and won Stage 2. For the start of the final 100 laps though, another Toyota led: Martin Truex Jr.

The 19 of Truex would lose ground though on the final trip down pit road. The lead would get handed over to Kyle Busch after the restart. In this run, Logano also quickly got to second and began to run Busch down.

Logano would actually grab the lead away from Busch on a restart with 34 laps left. However, another yellow inside of 20 to go would give Busch another chance at the top spot. This restart saw Busch regain his lost ground, as the Snickers 18 began to drive off into the sunset. Although Logano was inching closer, he could not quite get close enough to pounce on Busch. The 22 would be given one more shot at redemption when Kevin Harvick pounded the turn three wall, setting up an overtime finish.

With Busch as the control car, he fired off strong on the two lap run to the checkers. The 18 cleared the 22 with a big slide job into turn three. It would be all for nothing though, as Busch slid up too far in the middle of the corner, allowing Logano to cut back under him and take the white flag. A rare restart gone awry for Busch ends up with Joey Logano taking the win in St. Louis.

“Packed house, thanks for coming out guys!” Logano emphatically said to the capacity crowd at Gateway. “Racing for the lead like that with Kyle, one of the best, was a lot of fun. 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. Was able to cross back and forth a couple of times there on the last lap.”

“Good Shell/Pennzoil Mustang for sure. Nice to get a few wins on the season here, start collecting those Playoff points. What a great car, really fast and I kind of messed it up in qualifying. Paul (Wolfe, crew chief) made a great call putting two tires on. Blaney did a great job with the push down in the one, which kept me close at least and being able to make the move. Good racing there.”

Logano seemingly has a knack for winning inaugural races in recent memory. First it was Bristol Dirt in 2021, the Busch Light Clash at the LA Coliseum in February, and now Gateway in June. Driver 22 certainly performs well when visiting a new racetrack. Unfortunately for him though, Gateway is the last inaugural event of 2022.

Behind Logano and Busch, top five finishers included Kurt Busch, Ryan Blaney, and Aric Almirola. Martin Truex Jr., Erik Jones, Ross Chastain, Christopher Bell, and AJ Allmendinger rounded out the top 10.

Next week will see the NASCAR Cup Series make the annual trek to Sonoma Raceway. This year the Toyota/Save Mart 350 is the second road course race, as many drivers still search for their first win of 2022. Coverage begins Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

Written by Peter Stratta

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Photo Credit to Jeff Curry/Getty Images for NASCAR