With just two laps to go at Darlington Raceway, William Byron seemed on his way to a NASCAR Cup Series-leading third win of 2022 … until he took a shot from the nose of Joey Logano‘s No. 22.
Logano bumped into the No. 24 just prior to taking the white flag of the Goodyear 400 Sunday evening (May 8), sending Byron into the outside wall. Byron went from leading to race to finishing 13th, his fourth straight finish outside the top 10.
“He’s just an idiot. I mean he does this stuff all the time,” Byron told FOX Sports 1. “I’ve seen it with other guys. He drove in there 10 miles an hour too fast. With the 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 took the lead for the first time of the day on the restart with just 26 laps to go in the race. To take the top spot, he squeezed Logano into the outside wall.
“We were really close off of [turn] 2, and I think it spooked him and got him tight,” Byron said. “He was right against the wall, and I got the lead. It was close racing on the restart. We were faster than him, obviously.”
Byron had checked out to over a one-second lead, but Logano tracked him back down in the closing laps. And as soon as Logano caught the No. 24, he moved him out of the way.
Logano noted after the race that he used the bumper immediately because of the way Byron took the lead.
“At the end, the right rear started to go away,” Byron said. “Yeah, he didn’t even make it a contest.”
Rudy Fugle, Byron’s crew chief, took issue with Logano not trying to pass Byron clean before using the bumper.
“I wish we would’ve had a shot to race him clean there for a lap and a quarter when he got to us, but he took a shot at the back of us, and that’s what happened.” Fugle told Frontstretch. “… You’re coming to the white, so I would’ve loved a shot of him throwing it in on…
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