Joey Logano Admits He Doesn’t Have a Lot of Friends After Fontana and It’s Not for Causing a Massive Crash During a Restart, but Making Fun of Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin
Joey Logano has often been on the receiving end of harsh comments from his fellow competitors for his aggressive driving style. Not even into the points-paying part of the 2023 Cup Series schedule and Kyle Busch had some choice words for the Team Penske driver for his on-track actions.
This weekend at Fontana, the two-time champion drew the ire of several drivers for his part in a bungled restart just before the halfway point of the race that resulted in a massive multi-car pileup that ended the day for multiple drivers. After the race, the 32-year-old denied any responsibility for the accident.
However, shortly after the race, he did something while working the Xfinity Series broadcast and acknowledged it’s yet another reason he doesn’t have many friends in the Cup garage.
Joey Logano denies responsibility for causing massive crash on restart at Fontana
Joey Logano finished runner-up by a hair to Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in the season-opening Daytona 500 and looked to improve on that result by a position in the second race of the year at Auto Club Speedway in California. In the final race on the two-mile configuration of the track, Logano looked strong early.
Early in the second stage and after a pair of cautions, the No. 22 lined up in the front and led the field to green on a restart on Lap 87. Unfortunately, not all cars had even made it to the start-finish line before a massive crash began unfolding as one row of cars after another checked up, causing an accordion effect.
When the chaos was over, Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick, Aric Almirola and Ryan Preece were out of the race. And they were understandably unhappy.
“It’s kind of stupid, to be honest with you, on a professional level, and we all wreck on a restart,” Preece said.
Logano felt the heat from the other drivers and addressed it after the race.
“Go back and look at the data. I didn’t do anything,” he said. “I just rolled it and went like everyone was anticipating it. It’s part of the new restart zone – it’s bigger – so you can’t anticipate as much as you used to without getting into trouble.
“I went late in the zone because the car to the inside of me was laying back, so I was waiting for him to get up next to me before I went. I didn’t brake check anyone. It might look like it, but you can go back and look at it and see it’s not there.”
Logano makes fun of Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin, and admits he doesn’t have any friends
Logano finished 10th in the race. However, his day was not done. He and Penske teammate Ryan Blaney moved up to the Xfinity Series broadcast booth to call the race, which was initially scheduled to run on Saturday but was delayed due to weather.
At one point, the broadcast showed a promotional graphic for the upcoming Cup Series race in Las Vegas that featured several drivers, including Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, and Logano in the middle. The Penske driver got his hands on the telestrator and had a little fun drawing on the promo, circling his face and drawing the No. 1 by it.
He also then decided to have some fun at the expense of his fellow drivers by drawing mustaches on Elliott and Hamlin.
“We can do like a little mustache. What do you think?” he asked Blaney and play-by-play man Adam Alexander. “We’re having too much fun. You wonder why I have so many friends, guys.”
His remark drew a big laugh from those in the booth.
A future in the broadcast booth?
While drivers might not like Logano’s aggressive actions on the track and want to blame him for things that might not necessarily be his fault, he’s shown in recent years that when his days of winning and antagonizing his fellow competitors are over, he’ll likely have an opportunity to call races from the broadcast booth.
During Sunday’s Xfinity race, Twitter came to life with posts about how Logano and Blaney, even after a 400-mile race, brought more energy to the booth than Mike Joy, Clint Bowyer, and Tony Stewart did hours earlier during the Cup race. The Penske teammates, who have been paired together in the past, provide quality information from a driver’s perspective when describing the action, all while seamlessly bantering back and forth and adding occasional humor to the broadcast. Fans appreciate their knowledge and ability to not take it all too seriously.
Because of that, it’s hard not to imagine whenever Logano (and Blaney) decides to step away, the networks carrying NASCAR would want to bring him into the fold on a full-time basis. And then he can make even more friends.
