NASCAR’s Cup Series debut at Gateway was about as crazy as any fan could hope, with tempers flaring and bumping all around the track keeping things interesting for a packed crowd in the St. Louis grandstands.
However, it still came down to Joey Logano and Kyle Busch at the end of the day.
Logano and Busch dueled from the front row in the final three restarts in the race. Logano took the first, but Busch established a lead on the next one.
After a Kevin Harvick accident brought out the final caution, the pair would go to battle in a two-lap shootout – Logano came away victorious.
“It’s nice to get a couple of wins up to this point of the season,” Logano said on the Fox Sports 1 broadcast. “We had a good car today.”
Joey Logano wins in St Louis!#NASCAR @AlwaysRaceDay pic.twitter.com/7JuEUPWn9s
— Mr Matthew CFB 🇺🇦 (@MrMatthewCFB) June 5, 2022
The win is Logano’s second victory on the season, officially clinching his spot in the playoffs for 2022. It also put an exclamation mark on what was a successful day for Team Penske, Ryan Blaney earned a top five finish and Austin Cindric showed speed in his P11 result.
In the middle of the pack, though, things got hectic.
Ross Chastain was the name on almost everyone’s mind by the middle of stage two. During the race, Chastain got into Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott during two, separate incidents.
Each driver showed their displeasures by how they raced Chastain in the back half of the day.
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 5, 2022
“I owe half the field an apology and words won’t fix it,” Chastain said on the broadcast. “I can’t believe I made the same mistakes. Words aren’t going to fix it. I’ll have to pay for it on the track. I almost did today and I deserve everything that (other drivers) do.”
Hamlin accepted Chastain’s words, but basically extended that what happened on the track won’t change until his racing style does.
“It’s good that he takes responsibility, but ultimately it ruined our day,” Hamlin said on the broadcast. “I think we were kind of racing hard there for a while. He tried to slide up in front of us, but wasn’t able to because I wasn’t willing to back off and let him just slide up in front. The unfortunate part is that it didn’t look like he got too shy after that, because I think he got (into Chase Elliott later). We’ve all learned the hard way and we’ve all had it come back around on us. It will be no different (with Chastain).”
Among other notable finishes, Zane Smith earned a P17 result and finished on the lead lap while making his series debut and filling in for Chris Buescher.
The NASCAR Cup Series will be back on Sunday, June 12 as the tour heads to Sonoma for a road course race. The action is scheduled to begin at 3:00 p.m. CT on Fox Sports 1.
NASCAR Cup Series results
Enjoy Illinois 300
World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway
Sun. June 5, 2022
1. Joey Logano
2. Kyle Busch
3. Kurt Busch
4. Ryan Blaney
5. Aric Almirola
6. Martin Truex Jr.
7. Erik Jones
8. Ross Chastain
9. Christipher Bell
10. AJ Allmendinger
11. Austin Cindric
12. Kyle Larson
13. Alex Bowman
14. Justin Haley
15. Austin Dillon
16. Tyler Reddick
17. Zane Smith
18. Michael McDowell
19. William Byron
20. Brad Keselowski
21. Chase Elliott
22. Todd Gilliland
23. Daniel Suarez
24. Chase Briscoe
25. Harrison Burton
26. Bubba Wallace
27. Ty Dillon
28. Josh Bilicki
29. Cole Custer
30. BJ McLeod
31. Parker Kligerman
32. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
33. Kevin Harvick
34. Denny Hamlin
35. Cody Ware
36. Corey LaJoie
