Joey Logano outduels Kyle Busch for inaugural Gateway Cup win

Busch had taken control of the race but a late caution from a wreck involving Kevin Harvick sent Sunday’s race into a two-lap overtime to the delight of the sold-out crowd.

Logano lined up alongside Busch on the restart and got a big push from Penske teammate Ryan Blaney which allowed him to quickly move into the lead.

Busch then used a crossover move to get back in front of Logano as the two nearly touched, but got loose in the process and Logano dived beneath him and back into the lead.

Logano took the checkered flag 0.665 seconds head of Busch to earn his second win of the 2022 season and 28th of his career.

“What a packed house! Thanks guys for coming out. I hope you guys enjoyed that race,” said Logano. “It doesn’t get much better than that. Racing for the lead like that with Kyle was a lot of fun, crossing each other back and forth.

“I knew it was coming. If I did it to him, I knew he would do it to me. We crossed back and forth there a couple times in the last lap. It’s nice to get a few wins on the season here and start collecting those playoff points.

“I’m way out of breath here. What a great car, though. Really fast. I kind of messed up in qualifying, and Paul (Wolfe, crew chief) made a great call putting two tires on. Blaney did a great job with the push down in (Turn) 1, which kept me close at least and being able to make the move.”

Logano said he was hoping Blaney would line up behind him on the late restarts so the two could work together.

“He did a good teammate move there and then being able to push me and give Team Penske a chance to win the race. That was cool to see that Ford power lined up on the bottom (lane). That was special to see,” he said.

“Like I said, it was a good race crossing each other. Who would have thought we had slide jobs like that here? I thought we would 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…