Getty William Byron can clinch a Round of 12 spot with 6 points.
Team Penske’s Joey Logano won the Goodyear 400 Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway, but he did not make a new friend in the process. He sent Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron into the wall, prompting angry comments.
“We were really close off of [Turn] 2, and I think it spooked him, got him tight, and he was right up against the wall. I got the lead,” Byron told FOX Sports’ Jamie Little. “He’s just an idiot. He does this stuff all the time.
CHROME HORN 👀 Retweet to congratulate Joey Logano on his NASCAR Cup Series WIN at Darlington!
“I’ve seen it with other guys, and he drove in there 10 [mph] too fast. And with these Next Gen cars, he slammed me so hard it knocked the whole right side off the car. No way to make the corner. He’s just a moron. He can’t win a race, so he does it that way.”
Byron, who had the lead with two laps remaining, ended the day 13th overall after the hit from Logano. He missed out on his third win of the year, which would have likely put him in contention for the top spot in the championship standings.
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Logano Responded After His Contact With Byron
“You’re not gonna put me in the wall and not get anything back. That’s how that works.”- Joey Logano on his bump to get by William Byron at Darlington
Logano understandably faced questions about the contact after he did his victory burnouts and exited his car. FOX Sports’ Regan Smith asked the driver of the No. 22 about the hit and received a response that only created more questions. Logano then faced these while meeting with reporters in the media center.
“To me, I probably wouldn’t have gone straight to the bump and run if it wasn’t for how he got the lead,” Logano added during the post-race media availability. “He came off the Turn 2 and drove me right into the wall. At that point, I’m lucky my car is not broken, and I’m a very angry driver.
“I think that anyone in the field would probably agree somebody’s going to be willing to do this to you, well the gloves are off at that point. I knew if I got back there what I was going to do and what I had to do. That’s the way he wanted to race, so I said, ‘let’s go.’ If he had passed me clean, it wouldn’t have looked like that.”
Logano faced further questions about the run-in with Byron, and he said that he doesn’t expect anything in the future. He said that he and Byron are equal after they both used contact late in the race. He also said that this is not the first time that he has been called a moron or something much worse, so he doesn’t care.
Logano Snapped a Winless Streak Dating Back to 2021
GettyJoey Logano celebrates a win at Darlington Raceway.
The win put Logano in the playoff picture while creating numerous conversations. He also snapped a winless streak that dates back to the 2021 Cup Series season and an event on a unique racing surface.
The last time Logano reached Victory Lane was March 29, 2021. He took on the Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, and he used the race to punch his ticket to the playoffs despite only leading 61 of the 253 laps.
This win at Darlington was Logano’s 28th in the Cup Series, his 26th as a member of Team Penske. It moved him up to 30th overall in the all-time wins list and put him in a tie with Rex White and Carl Edwards. He is now three wins behind fellow champion Martin Truex Jr.
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