Logano bumps Byron late, Byron still returns to No. 1 seed
DARLINGTON, S.C. — Joey Logano bumped his way into the No. 3 seed as he moved William Byron to win Sunday’s Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway.
Logano picked up six more playoff points for winning the race and stage two while also putting himself in position for five more playoff points as he moved from ninth to fourth in the regular-season points.
With two laps to go, Logano bumped Byron in turn three and pulled away for the win. Logano won after leading 107 laps, the most of any driver Sunday.
Byron had led 24 laps but faded late before Logano bumped him, causing Byron to hit the wall and finish 13th.
After the race, Byron and Logano had a distinct disagreement.
Logano said, “You’re not gonna put me in the wall and not expect to get something back,” to Byron who responded by saying, “He’s just an idiot, he does this stuff all the time. He drove in there 10 MPH too fast and slammed me,” as they were each interviewed by FS1.
Still, Byron earned 11 stage points for finishing sixth and fifth in the stages and moved ahead of Ryan Blaney for second in the regular-season points. Byron is now in a position to earn 10 playoff points, in addition to the 13 playoff points he’s secured with his two race wins and three stage wins.
Ross Chastain held onto the No. 3 seed as he earned a playoff point for winning stage two, which netted him 10 stage points for the regular-season points.
Chastain also earned nine stage points in stage one which helped move him to fifth in the regular-season points standings and into a position to earn one more playoff point.
Chastain accomplished all of this despite scoring a DNF and a 30th-place finish after a Lap 196 restart wreck exiting turn two while battling for the lead.
Erik Jones was involved in the other restart wreck, a Lap 262 multi-car wreck while running in the top-10. Jones finished 25th with a DNF after finishing eighth and sixth in stages one and two.
Despite earning no stage points Sunday, Austin Dillon survived the attrition and finished ninth. The top-10 finish allowed him to take the playoff spot from Jones.
Dillon is now five points ahead of Jones and one point ahead of teammate Tyler Reddick, who finished second to Logano in Sunday’s race and is the first driver outside the playoffs for now.
Below is how the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs would be seeded if they started today.
Seeding is based on regular-season points standing (15 for 1st, 10 for 2nd, 8 for 3rd, 7 for 4th, 6 for 5th, 5 for 6th, 4 for 7th, 3 for 8th, 2 for 9th, 1 for 10th) race wins (five points per win) and stage wins (one point per stage win).
| Driver | Playoff Points Total | Base Points | Points Position/Points | Points for Race Wins (5 Pts/Win) | Stage Wins (1 Pt/Win) |
| William Byron | 2023 | 2000 | 10 (2nd) | 10 (Atlanta and Martinsville) | 3 (Talladega – Stage 2, Atlanta – Stage 1, Phoenix – Stage 1 |
| Chase Elliott | 2022 | 2000 | 15 (1st) | 5 (Dover) | 2 (Martinsville – Stages 1 & 2) |
| Ross Chastain | 2018 | 2000 | 6 (5th) | 10 (Talladega, COTA) | 2 (Darlington — Stage 2, Las Vegas – Stage 2) |
| Joey Logano | 2013 | 2000 | 7 (4th) | 5 (Darlington) | 1 (Darlington — Stage 1) |
| Ryan Blaney | 2012 | 2000 | 8 (3rd) | 4 (Dover – Stage 2, Richmond – Stage 1, Atlanta – Stage 2, Phoenix – Stage 2) | |
| Kyle Busch | 2010 | 2000 | 5 (6th) | 5 (Bristol Dirt) | |
| Alex Bowman | 2009 | 2000 | 3 (8th) | 5 (Las Vegas) | 1 (Las Vegas – Stage 1) |
| Kyle Larson | 2008 | 2000 | 2 (9th) | 5 (Auto Club) | 1 (Bristol Dirt) |
| Martin Truex Jr. | 2007 | 2000 | 4 (7th) | 3 (Daytona 500 –Stages 1 & 2, Richmond – Stage 2) | |
| Denny Hamlin | 2007 | 2000 | 0 (22nd) | 5 (Richmond) | 2 (Dover – Stage 1, COTA – Stage 2) |
| Chase Briscoe | 2006 | 2000 | 0 (13th) | 5 (Phoenix) | 1 (Bristol Dirt) |
| Austin Cindric | 2005 | 2000 | 0 (18th) | 5 (Daytona 500) | |
| Christopher Bell | 2001 | 2000 | 1 (10th) | ||
| Austin Dillon | 2000 | 2000 | 0 (14th) | ||
| Aric Almirola | 2000 | 2000 | 0 (12th) | ||
| Kevin Harvick | 2000 | 2000 | 0 (11th) |
| Regular Season Points Position | Driver | Points | Points Behind Leader | Wins or points Ahead/behind for Playoff Spot | Playoff points or points behind/ahead of 30th |
| 1 | Chase Elliott | 453 | LEADER | 1 win | 15 playoff points |
| 2 | William Byron | 388 | -65 | 2 wins | 10 playoff points |
| 3 | Ryan Blaney | 388 | -65 | (+102) | 8 playoff points |
| 4 | Joey Logano | 374 | -79 | 1 win | 7 playoff points |
| 5 | Ross Chastain | 364 | -89 | 2 wins | 6 playoff points |
| 6 | Kyle Busch | 364 | -89 | 1 win | 5 playoff points |
| 7 | Martin Truex Jr. | 364 | -89 | (+78) | 4 playoff points |
| 8 | Alex Bowman | 357 | -96 | 1 win | 3 playoff points |
| 9 | Kyle Larson | 336 | -117 | 1 win | 2 playoff points |
| 10 | Christopher Bell | 327 | -126 | (+41) | 1 playoff points |
| 11 | Kevin Harvick | 313 | -140 | (+27) | |
| 12 | Aric Almirola | 311 | -142 | (+25) | |
| 13 | Chase Briscoe | 287 | -166 | 1 win | |
| 14 | Austin Dillon | 287 | -166 | (+1) | |
| 15 | Tyler Reddick | 286 | -167 | (-1) | |
| 16 | Erik Jones | 282 | -171 | (-5) | |
| 17 | Daniel Suarez | 269 | -184 | (-18) | |
| 18 | Austin Cindric | 258 | -195 | 1 win | |
| 19 | Chris Buescher | 251 | -202 | (-36) | |
| 20 | Justin Haley | 243 | -210 | (-44) | |
| 21 | Kurt Busch | 233 | -220 | (-54) | |
| 22 | Denny Hamlin | 231 | -222 | 1 win | |
| 23 | Michael McDowell | 231 | -222 | (-56) | |
| 24 | Bubba Wallace | 225 | -228 | (-62) | |
| 25 | Ty Dillon | 205 | -248 | (-82) | (+52) |
| 26 | Cole Custer | 200 | -253 | (-87) | (+47) |
| 27 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 198 | -255 | (-89) | (+45) |
| 28 | Todd Gilliland | 173 | -280 | (-114) | (+20) |
| 29 | Harrison Burton | 169 | -284 | (-118) | (+16) |
| 30 | Corey LaJoie | 161 | -292 | (-126) | (+8) |
| 31 | Brad Keselowski | 153 | -300 | (-134) | (-8) |
| 32 | Cody Ware | 109 | -344 | (-178) | (-52) |
The next race for the NASCAR Cup Series is the May 15 Advent Health 400 at Kansas Speedway.
Last May, Kyle Busch picked up six playoff points for winning stage one and the overall race, while Kyle Larson won stage two and led a race-high 132 of 267 laps. Busch led 20 laps last May.
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