The 2025 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway was a full-throttle rollercoaster that tuned Memorial weekend into a Memorable one! This 600-mile, 400-lap beast, the longest slugfest on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule, dished out enough drama to fill a highlight reel for days. Ross Chastain, starting dead last in 40th after switching to a backup car, clawed his way through the pack to swipe the win from William Byron with six laps left, then smashed his trademark watermelon in victory lane like a boss.
Byron, who owned the night with 283 laps led and all three stage wins, had to swallow a bitter second place after a nail-biting duel. While Chastain is known to throw caution to the wind in a bid to secure a win, there was more than grit that helped the Trackhouse Racing star. And for some reason, Joey Logano has found himself in the crosshairs of the NASCAR community, and Byron didn’t hold back talking about it in the post-race.
Now, Logano was not in contention for the win. He was a lap down with the lead pack catching him on the final laps of the race. And more than spoiling Byron’s race, he was looking out for himself late in the race as the leaders grew bigger in his rear-view mirror.
Joey Logano was hoping for a late race caution
“Well you are put in a spot, it’s really a horrible spot if you are down one lap you are like ‘Heck with it!’ You just get out of the way. When you are fighting for the lead lap, you’re like okay, how fast are they catching you? So I just thought, if I just run my line, the same line I’ve been running for 30 laps, I am not gonna move around, they’re running the wall up top.” said Logano who was in a tough spot there as a lapped car scrapping to stay on the lead lap, he had Byron and Chastain in their No. 24 and No. 1 Chevrolets breathing down his neck.
He sized up their speed and decided to hug the bottom lane, the groove he’d been carving for 30 laps. Charlotte’s 1.5-mile oval, with its steep 24-degree banking, loves a steady hand, and Logano’s stuck to his game plan, not trying to play the bad guy. Jumping up to the top lane, where Byron was riding the wall, would’ve thrown dirty air their way—that messy turbulence that can kill a car’s grip. Logano’s 16th-place finish, after starting 17th, proves he wasn’t just coasting; he was hustling for points. He was ready to give up the bottom lane, but the #24 never made the charge towards him, and then he had to deal with Chastain for the race lead.
“I thought about going up there to make speed, I am just gonna be giving them dirty air, so I am just gonna run the 30 lane. If they catch me, they catch me, if not, then I am just gonna keep running my lane. If they get underneath me, I am gonna allow them to go, but they gotta get underneath me. So I just figured I’d keep running my laps there, the way I was running it.” Logano continued, weighing his options in real time. Had it been a fellow Ford car, things might’ve turned differently, but with HMS Chevy in his rear-view mirror, Logano did what he could to not spoil his and his rival’s race.
Instead, he locked into the bottom, challenging them to pass clean. “They gotta get underneath me” is Logano laying down the gauntlet—he wasn’t gifting the lane, but he was not throwing cheap shots, either. If they out-muscled him, cool; if not, he wouldn’t budge. It’s the same tenacity he showed in the 2024 All-Star Race, leading 100 laps before Christopher Bell slipped by late. And he had his reasons for being a thorn in William Byron’s side.
“The reason why I did that is ‘what if the caution comes out?’, if the caution comes out I can go for 4 tires now, maybe we can grab a couple of them on pit road. There are these 5-6 spots available right? You go down a lap, it’s over. You’re gonna get lucky dog and you are starting at the tail end of the whole field, you’re not gonna gain anything. So I was wondering what to do too, I am just gonna try to run as fast as I can and get outta here.” This is where Logano’s brain was in overdrive, playing the long game. He was banking on a caution flag, that golden moment to pit for fresh tires and snatch a few spots on pit road. Logano’s chased those “5-6 spots” he could grab if a yellow flag flies, a smart play for a guy who started 17th and finished 16th, and painting his 9th place in the points standings.
It was Classic Logano, like his Texas win, where he pounced on late cautions to outfox Michael McDowell. At Charlotte, with eight cautions already, including one on Lap 301, another yellow isn’t far-fetched. His “what if” mindset shows the pressure—race hard, but don’t wreck the leaders. Byron’s post-race gripes on Amazon Prime suggest Logano’s lane choice threw off his No. 24 Chevy’s rhythm, but Logano’s just trying to maximize his night, not steal anyone’s thunder.
Byron’s Frustration: The other side of Logano’s strategy
Logano’s calculated move didn’t just keep him on the lead lap—it lit a fuse under William Byron, who vented post-race about the No. 22 Ford’s role in his Coca-Cola 600 heartbreak. Byron, who led a race-high 283 laps and won all three stages, was hunting his first Charlotte win when Chastain slipped past on Lap 395. As the leaders closed in on Logano in the final 10 laps, Byron said after the race, “He was doing the usual,” slamming Logano for “moving around in 3 and 4,” disrupting his line.
Byron felt Logano’s shifting lanes in Turns 3 and 4 threw off his No. 24 Chevrolet’s handling, letting Chastain close the gap. The Hendrick Motorsports star, who finished second, was gutted, especially after a stellar weekend that included an Xfinity Series win at Charlotte. This was the third year in a row, where Byron came oh so close to winning the Coca-Cola 600. He has two runner-up finishes and a third-place result in the last three 600 starts. Not to forget, the #45 almost took out Byron before Chastain caught up to him; it was just that he caught the lap traffic at the wrong time.
But here’s the twist: Byron’s spotters didn’t see it the same way. On the No. 24 team’s radio, they argued Logano wasn’t intentionally blocking, just holding his line as a lapped car fighting for position. Logano’s SiriusXM comments back this up—he stuck to the bottom lane to avoid dirty air, not to play spoiler. The clash highlights the razor-thin margins at Charlotte, where a half-second can decide a race. Byron’s frustration reflects the stakes: a crown jewel win slipped away, and Logano’s “usual” tactics were an easy target.
Despite the heartbreak, Byron took over the lead in the points standings and has carved up a 25+ points lead over his teammate, Kyle Larson. The #24 team has the speed, it is only a matter of time before they start to rack up multiple race wins.
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