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Joey Logano, who won the unofficial race of the season at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, has finally acquired his first official win of the 2022 season at Darlington Raceway.
The 31-year-old emerged victorious in a wild finish when he bumped race leader William Byron from behind in Turn 3 on the next-to-last lap on Sunday. The bump sent Byron’s #24 Chevrolet into the outside wall and Logano went on to take his first win at the “The Lady in Black”. Meanwhile, Byron finished P13.
With his victory in Darlington, the 2018 Cup Series champion ended his 40-race winless streak and marked the 28th victory of his NASCAR Cup Series career.
On Twitter, NASCAR congratulated Joey Logano on winning his first race of the 2022 season at Darlington Raceway.
See the Tweet below:
The Connecticut native, who started from the pole, led 108 of the 293 laps and reached Victory Lane for the first time since winning at Bristol Motor Speedway in March 2021.
The action-packed Goodyear 400 saw twenty-four lead changes among thirteen different drivers.
The venue hosted the Next Gen car for the first time on NASCAR’s oldest superspeedway and witnessed nine caution flags. Racing was not easy on the egg-shaped track and many experienced drivers failed to complete the race.
The reigning Cup Series champion was out due to an engine failure on lap 112. Former champions Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski could also not finish the race. A two-time race winner of the season, Ross Chastain had a DNF after crashing into Turn 2.
Joey Logano is elated after Darlington victory
Joey Logano was ecstatic after Sunday's victory. With the win, he gained 58 points and stands fourth in the latest release of the Cup Series points table.
During the post-race interview, speaking about his first win of the 2022 season at "The Track Too Tough to Tame," Logano said:
“So proud of this race team. Great execution all day long. I’ll tell you what, the coolest thing is getting this car into Victory Lane. This is the car where it all started for me back in ’95 in a quarter midget. Really, honestly, all the young kids racing out there right now — this could be you.”
It was the first time this season that a driver who won pole also managed to win the race as well.
NASCAR Cup Series returns next weekend for AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway. The action will go live at 3 pm EST on Sunday, May 15.
