Logano outruns Kyle Busch in thrilling NASCAR Cup debut at World Wide Technology Raceway near St. Louis
Race fans in the St. Louis area waited decades for their first Cup Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway in nearby Madison, Ill. It’s a lead-pipe cinch they won’t have to wait nearly that long for the next one.
On a picture-perfect spring afternoon, a sellout crowd estimated at 60,000 saw as good a race as they might ever hope to see at the 1.25-mile track. They saw frequent three- and (occasionally) four-wide stretches of racing almost throughout. The hard feelings and finger-pointing accusations of rough driving will linger for a while. They had waited patiently for a show and NASCAR gave them one.
Most importantly, there was a spectacular late-race overtime battle for the win that started with three drivers in contention and ended with two swapping the lead twice in the last two laps. (Add a third lead change in overtime if you count the one that was quickly overcome by eventual winner Joey Logano in a Team Penske Mustang).
Kyle Busch finished a close second after seeing his best shot of winning evaporate when Cole Custer wrecked to bring out the sixth caution with 13 laps remaining. Busch was leading at the time and second-running Logano didn’t seem to have enough to get the point. Everything changed with five laps remaining when Kevin Harvick brought out the last caution with five laps to go.
Joey Logano takes the checkered flag on Sunday.
Jeff CurryGetty Images
When Busch chose outside lane for the last restart, his brother, Kurt, also chose outside, behind him. Logano was left with the inside lane, with fellow Ford driver and Penske teammate Ryan Blaney right behind. Logano jumped into the lead going into Turn 1, but Busch powered by and briefly regained the lead on the backstretch and nearing Turn 3. Logano regained the lead for good by going below Busch entering Turn 4 as they came for the white flag.
The Busch brothers finished second and third, with Blaney and Aric Almirola taking the other top-5 positions. Martin Truex Jr. led the back-5 ahead of Erik Jones, Ross Chastain, Christopher Bell, and AJ Allmendinger, fresh in from his Saturday victory in an Xfinity Series race in Portland, Ore.
It was second victory this year for Logano, who won in controversial late-race fashion several weeks ago at Darlington. “It was a good race crossing each other (like he and Busch did),” he said. “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. I’m looking forward to coming back.”
The second-place was the second in a row for Busch, who finished a close second to Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin last weekend at Charlotte. He won the spring dirt race at Bristol and has 11 top-10 finishes in 15 starts this year.
“My car was better on the outside, but it took a few laps for it to get rolling up there,” Busch said afterward. “Cold tires, firing off on that restart; I didn’t have the help behind me. I was going to put my hand out and signal to Kurt to push me, but Joey would have seen it, so it was going to be irrelevant. I got into Turn 1 by myself and was too far back. When you’re the guy on the inside (Logano) you flush the guy on the outside and it’s over.”
Kurt Busch took part of the blame for not helping his brother win the race. “I thought there was going to be a hand signal and I was going to push the hell out of the 18,” he said. “We did the whole brother miscommunication. We should have won that. There should have been a Toyota in victory lane, a Busch in victory lane. (Joey) he didn’t do anything smart – we just messed up on getting the launch.”
Chastain finished seventh in a run he’ll likely not forget – although he’d like to. He was involved in several incidents with fellow front-runners, including knocking Hamlin out of contention and getting into Chase Elliott. He acknowledged his blunders, and said he deserved whatever is coming to him from his colleagues.
Even when cooler heads prevail next week, this story is going to be around for a while.
NASCAR Cup Series Race
Inaugural Enjoy Illinois 300 Presented by TicketSmarter
World Wide Technology Raceway
Madison, Illinois
1. (7) Joey Logano, Ford, 245.
2. (12) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 245.
3. (11) Kurt Busch, Toyota, 245.
4. (5) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 245.
5. (8) Aric Almirola, Ford, 245.
6. (13) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 245.
7. (21) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 245.
8. (10) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 245.
9. (3) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 245.
10. (35) AJ Allmendinger(i), Chevrolet, 245.
11. (2) Austin Cindric #, Ford, 245.
12. (15) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 245.
13. (25) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 245.
14. (28) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 245.
15. (29) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 245.
16. (4) Tyler Reddick, Chevrolet, 245.
17. (32) Zane Smith(i), Ford, 245.
18. (17) Michael McDowell, Ford, 245.
19. (24) William Byron, Chevrolet, 245.
20. (30) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 245.
21. (16) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 245.
22. (22) Todd Gilliland #, Ford, 245.
23. (23) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 245.
24. (1) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 245.
25. (9) Harrison Burton #, Ford, 245.
26. (18) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 245.
27. (26) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 245.
28. (33) Josh Bilicki(i), Chevrolet, 245.
29. (14) Cole Custer, Ford, 245.
30. (34) BJ McLeod, Ford, 245.
31. (36) Parker Kligerman(i), Ford, 245.
32. (27) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 241.
33. (20) Kevin Harvick, Ford, Accident, 235.
34. (6) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 234.
35. (31) Cody Ware, Ford, Power Steering, 166.
36. (19) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, Engine, 72.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 97.965 mph.
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 7 Mins, 34 Secs. Margin of Victory: .655 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 10 for 53 laps.
Lead Changes: 12 among 9 drivers.
Lap Leaders: C. Briscoe 1-27;A. Cindric # 28-53;R. Blaney 54-65;K. Busch 66-96;M. McDowell 97-130;K. Busch 131-142;M. Truex Jr. 143-184;K. Busch 185;E. Jones 186-189;K. Busch 190-207;J. Logano 208-227;K. Busch 228-243;J. Logano 244-245.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Kyle Busch 4 times for 66 laps; Martin Truex Jr. 1 time for 42 laps; Michael McDowell 1 time for 34 laps; Chase Briscoe 1 time for 27 laps; Austin Cindric # 1 time for 26 laps; Joey Logano 2 times for 22 laps; Ryan Blaney 1 time for 12 laps; Kurt Busch 1 time for 12 laps; Erik Jones 1 time for 4 laps.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 2,12,8,11,1,10,22,18,9,20
Stage #2 Top Ten: 45,19,18,5,10,20,99,41,43,12
Keyword: Worth the Wait: How Joey Logano Beat Kyle Busch for NASCAR Cup Win in OT at WWTR