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Nearly two years back, Joey Logano made a questionable maneuver over race leader William Byron moments before the white flag dropped at the Darlington Raceway.
Logano secured the fastest lap, covering the 1.366-mile track in 28.805 seconds, to become the polesitter for the 2022 Goodyear 400, held on Sunday, May 8, 2022. Byron, meanwhile, started quite low compared to the Team Penske driver in P9.
Joey Logano led the maximum of the 293-lap race and comfortably commanded 108 laps. However, with just 25 laps until the checkered flag dropped, a caution prompting a restart happened and William Byron took charge from there.
The #24 Chevy driver directed Logano into the wall before acquiring dominance over the pack. However, the two-time Cup Series champion kept charging right behind Byron at P2.
Momentarily before the official raised the white flag, Logano nudged the #24 Chevrolet, sidelining Byron and clearing the path for his first victory of the season. With his Darlington triumph, the 33-year-old broke the 40-race-long winless streak.
On the flip side, William Byron, who was on the verge of taking the victory finished a dismal P13 after failing to regain the lead. The HMS driver was not happy with Logano's move and vented his frustration shortly after the weekend concluded.
The North Carolina native unraveled his disappointment as he spoke during a post-race talk, saying (via Noah Lewis on Youtube) [1:51]:
“He’s [Logano] just an idiot. He does this stuff all the time. I’ve seen it with other guys. He drove in there 10 miles an hour too fast, and with these Next Gen cars, he slammed me so hard it knocked the whole right side off the car, and no way to make the corner.”
William Byron added:
“Yeah, he’s just a moron. He can’t win a race so it does it that way.”
Joey Logano verbally retaliates to William Byron with the "angry race car driver" remark
When Logano bumped Byron on turn three of the next to last lap, the #24 Chevrolet's proximity was evidently vacant. This gave the #22 Ford enougn room to pass swiftly without wrecking the HMS driver. However, the Connecticut native could not avoid a clash with Byron.
The rationale behind the supposed wreck can be traced back to the final restart of the race. William Byron's maneuver on lap 268 brought the Team Penske driver so close to the wall that the Ford Mustang scratched through the side on turn 2. Moreover, Byron himself believed that his next move over Logano which saw him against the wall on turn 3 ignited the spark to retaliate.
After ending his winless drought and dethroning the HMS driver from a potential victory, Logano spoke about his maiden win in Darlington, South Carolina. He said (1:18):
"Yeah, you're not going to put me in the wall and not get anything back. That's how that works," said Logano referring to Byron's wreck.
Logano had more to add to the incident, saying (via USA Today):
"There’s something to be said for an angry race car driver... If someone’s going to be willing to do that to you, then the gloves are off... I’ve been called a lot of things, a lot worse than moron."
