Joey Logano Wins First NASCAR Cup Series Race at Gateway

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Photo: Jeff Curry (Getty Images)

The NASCAR Cup Series visited World Wide Technology Raceway, more commonly referred to as Gateway, for the first time today. Sitting just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, the venue waited nearly a quarter-century for its first Cup Series race date. The Enjoy Illinois 300 was the first event ever to sell out Gateway in the track’s history.

Stewart-Haas’ Chase Briscoe won pole and led the race from the first 27 laps before suffering a tire puncture. The pit stop for new tires sent Briscoe a lap down. He ended up finishing 24th on the lead lap.

Trackhouse’s Ross Chastain became public enemy number one after spinning Chase Elliott and sending Denny Hamlin into the wall. Neither driver hesitated to retaliate as later Elliott bumped Chastain against the Turn 2 wall, with Hamlin also getting in the action. Chastain apologized for his driving after the race, knowing that his future punishment would come on the track from his rivals.

The closing laps were centered around a three-way battle for the win between Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch, Penske’s Joey Logano and his teammate Ryan Blaney. Logano clung to Busch’s rear bumper, trying to get alongside the leader. Then, a brake failure sent Kevin Harvick’s Mustang into the outside wall in Turn 3, sending the race into overtime.

Kyle Busch elected to restart in the outside lane, and Logano dove the entry of Turn 1, sliding up in front of Busch. Busch cut down inside Logano, and the pair were door-to-door down the backstretch. Busch couldn’t keep his car low in Turn 3, pushing up the track and opening the door for Logano to drive the last lap safely to victory lane.