Logano loses temper after flare-up with Harvick
Bumped out of the top five after a scrape with Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano could no longer control his temper after the Pocono 500.
He drove his No. 20 Toyota so close to Harvick's Chevy that Harvick crew chief Gil Martin complained one slip-up on the gas pedal could have trapped three guys between the cars. Logano had to be restrained by several men after yelling and pointing in Harvick's direction.
It was a rare show of emotion for the 20-year-old Logano.
``It is what it is, it's just ridiculous,'' Logano said. ``I don't know what I've ever done to (anger Harvick), but he's apparently stupid.''
All over a bump in the third turn on lap 198, part of a flurry of pileups in Sunday's race that ended with Denny Hamlin's first-place dash after a restart.
It's apparently not the first time that Harvick, the series points leader coming into Sunday, and Logano have been at odds, though the scrape at Pocono Raceway by far grabbed the most attention.
Logano said Harvick had let him go on the straightaway coming into the third turn with Logano up high before Harvick ``decided to bump me.''
``It's probably not his fault,'' Logano said outside his trailer. ``His wife wears the firesuit in the family, tells him what to do, so it's probably not his fault.''
Martin said Logano veered into Harvick's line, leading to the tap that sent Logano's car into a spin.
``He just races with not giving any respect and much room,'' Harvick said. ``So, we just wound up together. It's unfortunate, but that's the way it is.''
Martin said Harvick has already ``moved on'' from the flare-up, though he added the confrontation on pit row that could have escalated into something much worse if Logano had inched his car closer.
``If his foot had slipped off the brake right there, he would have crushed three people's legs,'' Martin said. ``If that were to have happened, it would have been an all-out brawl on pit row.''
Joe Gibbs, the team owner for both Hamlin and Logano, said he rarely polices his drivers and lets them handle issues on their own. Gibbs also stuck up for Logano, who met with NASCAR officials about the confrontation after the race.
``But it has been kind of a situation where he's the young guy and probably knocked around some,'' Gibbs said. ``You kind of hate to see that, but we think he'll do the right thing. ... Generally, Joey is going to take the high road.''
Harvick finished fourth, while Logano ended the race 13th.
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JIMMIE'S BACK?: What might pass for a slump for four-time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson came to an end at the Tricky Triangle.
Johnson finished fifth Sunday, snapping a streak four-race streak of finish out of the top 10. He was 16th previous week at Dover.
After getting as high as second in his No. 48 Chevy, Johnson said he end-of-race flurry of caution flags and accidents made him cautious coming out of restarts.
``It wasn't much fun at all to be honest with you,'' he said about the closing laps. ``There's so much to lose and so much chaos on the track.''
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BODINE'S DAY: Geoff Bodine wasn't on the track long for his first Sprint Cup race in six years.
The 1986 winner of the Daytona 500 was out of his race suit, showered and headed out of the trailer about 45 minutes after the green flag dropped on the rain-delayed Pocono 500. The bright yellow No. 36 Chevy was being loaded on to the Tommy Baldwin Racing team trailer after 23 laps while most of the rest of the 43-car field was circling the Tricky Triangle.
Bodine, 61, had hoped to make a much bigger splash - a win at Long Pond would have been made him the oldest driver to win a NASCAR cup race. The distinction is held by Harry Gant, who was 52 when he won at Michigan in 1992.
But Bodine's team was short on resources without a sponsor. Bodine said he raced longer than expected ``but I wasn't complaining.''
This was a one-race deal for Bodine, though he does want to stay with Baldwin's team.
``It's no fun,'' he said about Sunday's start-and-park strategy. ``But I'm doing it for a reason ... If you don't come here, if you're not visible, you'll never get that sponsorship, that will never happen.''
So the weekend in part was intended to rub elbows and chat up potential sponsors.
``A lot of people saw that this elder statesman could still drive, qualify the cars and race OK. All of that is a positive ... Hopefully, we'll get a call.''
Bodine, who overcame a fiery crash in a Trucks Series race in 2000, hasn't run a full Cup schedule since 1999.
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FUELING FORD: Two Ford drivers apparently were in the middle of an end-of-race wreck that damaged nine cars. Kasey Kahne's No. 9 Ford appeared to get the worst of it after it landed on top of the retaining wall.
Kahne got run into by fellow Ford driver AJ Allmendinger, according to a third Ford driver, Greg Biffle, whose car was also nicked in the accident.
Allmendinger, whose 10th place finish was best among Ford drivers, said he was defending against a run from Kahne.
Allmendinger ``totally caused that whole thing,'' Biffle said. ``You can't run your teammate down on to the grass. That is horrible.''
Four Ford drivers - Biffle, Allmendinger, Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth - drove the Ford FR9 engine, which was supposed to help put them back on the map. The new engine, however, has struggled to keep up with Chevrolet.
Eight drivers will have the engine next week in Michigan.
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RED BULLISH: The crew chief swap for Red Bull Racing had mixed results for team drivers Scott Speed and Casey Mears.
Speed finished 20th in the No. 82 Toyota. Mears ended Sunday in 23rd place, but spun off the track after Mears' car touched Elliott Sadler's care on a restart on lap 159.
Mears has been filling for Brian Vickers in the No. 83 Toyota with Vickers undergoing treatment for blood clots.
The swap of crew chiefs and key team members came a week after Mears and Speed finished 29th and 30th in Charlotte. The move reunited Mears with crew chief Jimmy Elledge, a pair that worked together at Chip Ganassi Racing.
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'SAFER' WALLS: Pocono Raceway will install SAFER barriers along the inside wall between turns 1 and 2 and down the ``Long Pond'' stretch in time for the 2011 races at the massive 2.5-mile oval.
The barriers, a combination of steel and foam, will replace the current guard rail system. SAFER barriers are currently in place at each of NASCAR's oval tracks and are also being installed on the road course at Watkins Glen.
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CHARITY WORK: Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. are racing to see who can secure a $100,000 charitable grant from Pepsi. As part of the soft drink company's Refresh Project, each driver came up with an idea on how to invest the potential grant money.
Gordon wants to establish a program at Jeff Gordon's Children's Hospital that would focus on treatment, care and protection of sexually and physically abused children. Johnson wants to help ease some of the financial pressure on families dealing with pediatric bone marrow transplants while Earnhardt would like to build a computer lab for students at an elementary school near his North Carolina home.
The winner will be based on fan votes at www.nascar.com/PepsiRefresh
