Joey Logano wins inaugural Gateway Cup race amid Chastain beef

The inaugural NASCAR Cup Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway presented a battle of former champions that ended with Joey Logano holding off Kyle Busch for the victory, but most attention seemed to be on the eighth-place finisher. Ross Chastain, who has developed a reputation for his aggressive driving style, did little to dispute it as he became embroiled in on-track drama with Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin.

The feud began with Hamlin shortly after Stage #2 began when Chastain bumped into his rear in an effort to pass him, but this sent Hamlin into the outside wall. Eventually two laps down, Hamlin retaliated by forcing him onto the apron during their next encounter. Ryan Blaney‘s spin set up a restart on lap 101 where Chastain clipped Elliott and spun him across the frontstretch, also collecting Bubba Wallace.

Elliott and Hamlin, who infamously clashed at Martinsville in 2017 while fighting for a Championship Round spot, became an unlikely “tag team” during the ensuing lap 107 restart as the former forced Chastain into the wall before the latter did the same. Even B.J. McLeod was dragged into the mess when Chastain pushed Elliott into him.

By the end of the race, Chastain finished eighth while Elliott and Hamlin were respectively twenty-first and thirty-fourth. Speaking with FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass, Hamlin called out Chastain’s lack of “sense of conscience” for his driving behaviour but added stock car racing is “self-policing” and that one might have to “fence these guys hard” for them to realise their actions. Chastain’s employer Justin Marks responded to the message on Twitter with a “Can’t wait”, prompting Hamlin to respond that he is “not helping” but added “you can keep stoking if you’d like. Not sure it helps the end resolve.”

Chastain took responsibility for his driving, saying he “owe(s) half the field an apology. Words aren’t going to fix it, so I’ll have to pay for it on the track and almost did today. I deserve everything that they do. I just can’t believe that I continue to make the same mistakes and overdrive the corners and drive into guys.”

While the three-way quarrel dominated much of Sunday’s headlines, Logano and Busch battled for the lead late. Kevin Harvick‘s wreck on lap 237 set up overtime, and Logano took the lead with a bump from Team Penske ally Blaney before keeping Busch at bay during the two-lap run to the finish.

The win is Logano’s second points payer of 2022 after Darlington. The 2018 champion has seemed to develop a knack for winning inaugural events, having done the same for Bristol Motor Speedway’s Dirt Race in 2021 and the Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in February.

“It doesn’t get much better than that, racing for the lead like that with Kyle, one of the best, it was a lot of fun,” Logano told FOX. “Crossing each other back and forth, I knew it was coming. I did it to him, I knew he was going to do it to me. We crossed back and forth there in the last lap there a couple of times. […] Nice to get a few wins on the season here, start collecting those points, playoff points. I’m out of breath.

“What a great car, though. Really fast. I kind of messed up in qualifying, and Paul (Wolfe, crew chief) made a great call putting two tyres on. Blaney did a great job with the push down in the one, which kept me close at least and being able to make the move. Good racing there.”

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	7	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	245	Running
2	12	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	245	Running
3	11	45	Kurt Busch	23XI Racing	Toyota	245	Running
4	5	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	245	Running
5	8	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	245	Running
6	13	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	245	Running
7	21	43	Erik Jones	Petty GMS Motorsports	Chevrolet	245	Running
8	10	1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	245	Running
9	3	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	245	Running
10	35	16	A.J. Allmendinger*	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	245	Running
11	2	2	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Ford	245	Running
12	15	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	245	Running
13	25	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	245	Running
14	28	31	Justin Haley	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	245	Running
15	29	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	245	Running
16	4	8	Tyler Reddick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	245	Running
17	32	17	Zane Smith*	RFK Racing	Ford	245	Running
18	17	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	245	Running
19	24	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	245	Running
20	30	6	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing	Ford	245	Running
21	16	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	245	Running
22	22	38	Todd Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	245	Running
23	23	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	245	Running
24	1	14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	245	Running
25	9	21	Harrison Burton	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	245	Running
26	18	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	245	Running
27	26	42	Ty Dillon	Petty GMS Motorsports	Chevrolet	245	Running
28	33	77	Josh Bilicki*	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	245	Running
29	14	41	Cole Custer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	245	Running
30	34	78	B.J. McLeod	Live Fast Motorsports	Ford	245	Running
31	36	15	Parker Kligerman*	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	245	Running
32	27	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	241	Running
33	20	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	235	Accident
34	6	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	234	Running
35	31	51	Cody Ware	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	166	Power
36	19	7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	72	Engine