The boos rained down on Joey Logano as he celebrated his win in today’s Goodyear 400 at Darlington.
And judging by William Byron‘s comments after the race, they may not have all been coming from the grandstands.
Byron was leading the race with two laps to go, with Logano in second. But Logano managed to run Byron down going into turn 3. And then he gave Byron a hard shot from behind that sent Byron into the wall, allowing Logano to take the lead coming to the white flag and eventually go on to win the race.
Joey Logano's bump-n-run on William Byron at Darlington. pic.twitter.com/OJ4a9WY2iU
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) May 8, 2022
Now it’s fair to say Logano’s already not the most popular driver among fans, but after moving the generally well-liked Byron to win the race, the fans at Darlington definitely let them know what they thought:
“It’s obvious,” Byron as fans boo Logano. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/Ibl0c9Zk1B
— Noah Lewis (NASCAR) (@Noah_Lewis1) May 8, 2022
Logano for his part claimed that Byron had it coming.
On the final restart of the race, Byron had run Logano up the track and caused Logano to scrape the wall coming out of turn two as they fought for the lead:
here's a view of the contact Logano referred to regarding Byron walling him on restart pic.twitter.com/JVU0oxaYjM
— leuchtend (@nomademonte) May 8, 2022
According to Logano:
“You’re not gonna put me in the wall and not get anything back. That’s how that works.”
Byron, of course, saw it differently, and said that Logano’s excuse for dumping him coming to the white flag was bullshit – and he didn’t hold back:
“We were really close off of two and I think it spooked him and got him tight and he was right against the wall, and I got the lead.
He’s just an idiot. He does this stuff all the time, I’ve seen it with other guys. But he drove in there 10 mph too fast. And with these Next Gen cars, he slammed me so hard it knocked the whole right side off the car and no way to make the corner.
Yeah, he’s just a moron. He can’t win a race so he does it that way.”
"[Joey Logano]'s just a moron … He didn't even make it a contest."- William Byron pic.twitter.com/88WPpLBdTW
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) May 8, 2022
Tell us how you really feel William.
Byron had some more choice words about Logano while talking to car owner and Vice Chairman of Hendrick Motorsports Jeff Gordon on pit road as he was getting out of his car:
“He’s a piece of shit. He can’t fucking win unless he drives through everybody.”
.@WilliamByron out of the car to @JeffGordonWeb: “He’s a piece of shit. He can’t f*cking win unless he drives through everybody.” #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/jOK1K3IFAi
— Noah Lewis (NASCAR) (@Noah_Lewis1) May 8, 2022
Gordon also hinted that Logano has some payback coming his way soon:
Jeff Gordon talked about what he thought on Logano’s bump and run on Byron.
“Logano had a shot to do it clean. He chose to do it a different way. … I’m sure Joey’s going to justify it. William’s got a payback for Joey coming at some point.”#NASCAR #Goodyear400 @Frontstretch pic.twitter.com/v5JVPfglAA
— Dalton Hopkins (@PitLaneLT) May 8, 2022
So while it sounds like Joey thinks they’re even, it seems that William Byron isn’t going to forget about this one any time soon.
And it wouldn’t be the first time Joey’s pissed of another driver and found himself on the wrong end of some payback, after Kenseth dumped Logano at Martinsville in 2017 over an incident that had happened a few weeks earlier:
"KENSETH TAKES HIM OUT!"
Five years ago, Matt Kenseth retaliated against Joey Logano at Martinsville in the #NASCARPlayoffs. pic.twitter.com/WvQjjvxndr
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) October 29, 2020
All I’ve gotta say is I think I just became a William Byron fan.