Want respect in NASCAR? Stand up for yourself!
Joe Gibbs Racing was poised to place all three cars in the top five of Sunday’s Sprint Cup race at Pocono Raceway for the first time in the history of the organization.
However, championship leader Kevin Harvick had a different gameplan.
On Lap 198, Harvick passed Joey Logano, but the sophomore didn’t back off. With race leader — and eventual winner — Denny Hamlin 100 yards from the white flag, Harvick collided with Joey Logano in Turn 3, erasing the youngster’s opportunity to post his first top-five finish at the 2.5-mile tri-oval.
Harvick called the incident “a 20-year-old move” and added, “he just races without giving people any respect and not much room. So, we just wound up getting together. It’s unfortunate, but that’s the way it goes.”
Logano’s crew calmed him over the radio after the incident. He gathered himself up and restarted 27th when the race went green on Lap 203. Logano, 20, sailed through a late eight-car pileup, salvaged a 12th-place finish and headed straight for Harvick on pit road, where his father, Tom, waited to assist.
Logano tried to push his way through the throng of crewmen and reporters, but was unable to make his point.
“He needs to know how I feel,” Logano said to justify the confrontation, which was quickly diffused by NASCAR officials. “But he’s got 6,000 crew members surrounding the guy. They won’t let you talk to him. Not that there’s any talking to him anyway.”
After the pit road ordeal, Logano believed he was summoned to the NASCAR hauler and returned to his transporter to change clothes.
“It‘s disappointing to be honest with you,” Logano said. “We had a top-five run going. I was pretty pumped up about it. Racing (Harvick), and he let me go in the middle of the straightaway and decided to dump me on the next lap.
“I don’t know what his problem is with me, but it's probably not his fault. His wife wears the firesuit in the family, tells him what to do, so it's probably not his fault ... I don't know what I ever did to piss him off, but he's obviously stupid."
Logano, crew chief Greg Zipadelli and team president J.D. Gibbs headed for the trailer. In reality, NASCAR wanted to talk to Tom Logano for a refresher course in father etiquette at the racetrack with both crews and media after making contact with TNT‘s Ralph Sheheen. The elder Logano’s hard card (all access pass) was suspended after an altercation with Greg Biffle at Fontana last year. After Biffle dumped Joey Logano in the Nationwide Series race, Tom Logano went to fight his son’s battle.
That incident alone created the perception that the driver was an easy mark. Not surprisingly, Biffle went after Logano again this year at Fontana in the Nationwide race and Harvick followed suit at Bristol. NASCAR encourages their boys to “have at it,” but at some point Tom Logano has to learn it’s the responsibility of his son to fight his own battles. If reinforcement's needed, that’s when the No. 20 crew can step in.
Although NASCAR will not take Tom Logano’s hard card again, it would behoove Joe Gibbs Racing management to keep daddy on a short leash.
