After all the jostling and bumping and aggravation with certain drivers, the field in the inaugural NASCAR Cup series race at World Wide Technology Raceway was virtually intact when the final restart came with two laps remaining Sunday.
With cars paired on a packed track, there was time for one winning move. No one suspected a surface that made it difficult to pass would allow for a counter move.
Joey Logano was overtaken by Kyle Busch with two laps remaining but had one final push with the help of a bump from teammate Ryan Blaney to pull away for the win.
“Kyle and I have raced each other a lot,” Logano said. “I knew it was going to be a slugfest to the end. To have Blaney give me a push, that was what I needed to have position.”
Racing at the track generally received favorable reviews. The 240 laps around the 1¼-mile oval included 10 cautions but no serious wrecks. There was three-wide racing at times, although passing proved to be a challenge.
The sellout of 57,000 fans saw Logano win by .655 seconds with Kurt Busch finishing behind his brother in third. The event will return in 2023 after generating a first-ever sellout to WWTR and drawing a facility record crowd for the NASCAR truck race Saturday.
One of the final questions to be answered was how the track would race when challenged for the first time by Cup drivers in the first-year Next Gen car.
“The track widened out really well, and there were multiple grooves,” said Paul Wolfe, Logano’s crew chief. “Any time you have multiple grooves, we’ll be able to put on a better race. Honestly, I thought whoever got the lead (on the restart) was going to win. To see Joey make that move, I was impressed because it seemed once someone got the lead it was hard to pass.”
The move was rather slick, as Logan slipped low on the track to make a nifty push into clean air.
The finish came after Kevin Harvick’s car slammed into the wall in Turn 3 with four laps remaining. Busch had regained the lead with 12 laps left and hoped for a caution-free finish.
On the final restart, Busch said he chose the outside position because his car had run better in that spot all day. He had hoped to get a push from his brother, who was behind him, but they were unable to communicate to make it happen.
“I thought with Joey taking the bottom he’d have his teammate to help and I’d have Kurt on the outside to help me,” Kyle Busch said. “But I couldn’t do the hand signals.”
The race had many contentious moments that kept the energy going with a couple involving Ross Chastain.
The race’s second caution came when Chastain came into contact with Denny Hamlin, who won the previous week at Charlotte, and put him into the wall. Chastain came under more scrutiny not long after when he pushed his car aggressively between two others, spinning Chase Elliott.
The payback came when Elliott gave Chastain a bump and passed him. Hamlin then got into Chastain’s car for good measure.
There were also plenty of stretches with tight duels on the turns and three cars running side-by-side on the straightaways.
“The racing was awesome,” Kurt Busch said. “Two thumbs up. It was great racing.”
Blaney, who finished fourth, had no complaints.
“I thought the racing was OK,” he said. “I was happy it widened out, so that was a good surprise. The track did a good job and made for a pretty exciting finish. I’m sure we can learn stuff, come back next year and make the track even better.”
Martin Truex Jr. was in good position to win for the second time at the track as he led about two-thirds of the way through the race. But after he pitted under caution along with many other cars, he emerged in seventh place.
After winning the first pole of his career, Chase Briscoe led for the first 26 laps but blew his left rear tire and fell to the back of the pack. Austin Cindric took advantage to win the first stage and the 10 points that are awarded. Kurt Busch won the second stage.
