Joey Logano wrote a page of NASCAR Cup Series history on Sunday evening.
Logano held off a hard charging Kyle Busch over the closing laps to score the win in the Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
The win came in the first event held by NASCAR at the historic southern California venue, coming on a temporary quarter-mile track built on top of the stadium’s playing field.
“I can’t believe it,” said Logano. “We’re here. The L.A. Coliseum. We got the victory with the old Shell/Pennzoil Mustang. This is an amazing event. Congratulations, NASCAR. Such a huge step in our industry to be able to do this, put on an amazing race for everybody.”
It is also the first time in the non-points pre-season event to be held at a venue other than Daytona International Speedway since 1979, when NASCAR Hall of Famer won the first running.
The win also comes in the first appearance of NASCAR’s Next Gen car.
For Logano, it’s his second career Clash win, as he becomes the first repeat event winner in the last eight years. It also marks the fifth Clash victory for Team Penske.
The win also showed a strong rebound for his No. 22 Team Penske crew, who seemed to struggle in practice and in qualifying on Saturday to get their Mustang up to speed.
“The guys working on the car did an amazing job finding speed when we were slow,” Logano said. “We were 28th or so on the board yesterday and made some good changes – worked with our teammates – Ryan Blaney a lot. I owe a lot to him, too, to see some of the gains that they made and ultimately get the win.”
Logano won his qualifying heat race earlier in the day, and was a part of the conversation in the race from the start. After moving up to third just before the 50 lap mark, then moved to second under caution when then leader Tyler Reddick slowed with driveline issues.
Logano appeared to move to the point as the race reached the halfway break on lap 75, but NASCAR ruled that Busch was actually the leader when the break came.
After dropping back to third on the restart, Logano would charge back to second with just over 40 laps remaining.
Logano powered to the lead with 33 laps to go in the 150 lap event, and then held off several charges from Busch over the closing laps to take the win.
“I’m out of breath. I was so excited about this,” said Logano. “This is a big win. My wife is having a baby tomorrow, our third one, so a pretty big weekend for us.”
For Busch, who led 64 laps on the day, it was a close ending to what had been a strong weekend.
“I was being perfect doing everything I needed to do – keep the tires underneath me,” said Busch. “When I got close, I was like, okay I’ve got to try more and pounce at an opportunity and just overheated the tires and smoked them in three laps and that was it. Disappointing, obviously, come out here and win the pole, and lead laps, run up front. The finish goes green and it’s not chaotic and we can’t win, so it sucks.”
Austin Dillon, who put on a late race charge, came home with a third place finish.
“From where we were last night, it took a lot of crazy fate and a little prayer last night,” said Dillon. “Talked to myself. We got it together today. The True Velocity Chevrolet was really fast in practice, I just struggled a little bit in qualifying and knew we would get in the race and be fine. The long run speed was there. Disappointed I couldn’t get those next two cars. I really wanted to get there.”
Erik Jones, driving the No. 43 for Petty GMS Racing, finished in fourth, but not without a little controversy.
He and Ryan Blaney made contact on lap 114 while racing for seventh position. The contact sent Blaney into the wall, leaving his No. 12 Ford with damage. After exiting his car in the infield, Blaney walked back to the track and threw his HANS safety device at the No. 43 Chevy as it passed by.
“He destroyed me for seventh,” Blaney said. “It doesn’t really make any sense. I don’t know. I was kind of just riding around and just run in the back of you and killed our car. Yeah, I was mad, but you’ll have that.”
“Yeah, I was racing with him there and he brake-checked me off of (turn) four for no real reason,” Jones said. “I didn’t appreciate that and felt like I showed it on the track. If we have a conversation, we have a conversation. It’s an exhibition race. We’re out here doing what we can. I was frustrated with the move that he made, so that’s what happened.”
Defending NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson finished in fifth, but that came with its own bit of controversy.
While racing with rookie Justin Haley with 34 laps to go, the two made contact coming off the corner. Larson then moved down the track, shoving Haley’s Chevrolet into the inside wall, bringing out the final caution of the day.
William Byron, Cole Custer, Christopher Bell, A.J. Allmendinger, and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top 10.
Dawsonville, Georgia’s Chase Elliott was never a factor in the race. While racing for seventh position with Ryan Blaney, Elliott spun on his own in turn 4, making contact with the wall with the left front of his No. 9 Chevrolet. He would eventually come home with an 11th place finish.
NASCAR Cup Series
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum – Los Angeles, CA
Busch Light Clash – February 6, 2022
1. (4) Joey Logano, Ford, 150.
2. (1) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 150.
3. (10) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 150.
4. (16) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 150.
5. (8) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 150.
6. (7) William Byron, Chevrolet, 150.
7. (14) Cole Custer, Ford, 150.
8. (11) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 150.
9. (21) A.J. Allmendinger(i), Chevrolet, 150.
10. (19) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 150.
11. (15) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 150.
12. (22) Harrison Burton #, Ford, 150.
13. (9) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Chevrolet, 150.
14. (5) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 150.
15. (23) Martin Truex, Jr., Toyota, 149.
16. (12) Michael McDowell, Ford, 149.
17. (13) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 147.
18. (20) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 146.
19. (3) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, Accident, 116.
20. (18) Ryan Preece, Ford, Oil Pressure, 75.
21. (2) Tyler Reddick, Chevrolet, Drivetrain, 53.
22. (6) Chase Briscoe, Ford, Drivetrain, 53.
23. (17) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, Power Steering, 52.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 39.029 mph.
Time of Race: 57 Mins, 39 Secs. Margin of Victory: .877 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 5 for 0 laps.
Lead Changes: 5 among 3 drivers.
Lap Leaders: T. Reddick 1;K. Busch 2-3;T. Reddick 4-53;K. Busch 54-115;J. Logano 116-150.
Leaders Summary: (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led) Kyle Busch 2 times for 64 laps; Tyler Reddick 2 times for 51 laps; Joey Logano 1 time for 35 laps.
