“He did it enough so I couldn’t get back to him. I was gonna show him what fair was,” a visibly frustrated Logano chimed during a post-race interview. Despite leading for the major chunk of the race, one caution flag, a pit stop, and 20 laps later, fortunes flipped. Logano’s fierce defense of the $1 million turned to rubble as Bell stood his ground on the inside. “I just couldn’t get there. I’ll race him the same way. That’s all it is. This race is for a million dollars, I get it. But we race each other every week. We’re like elephants, we don’t forget anything,” Logano added. But despite watching the battle unfold, Bell’s teammate, Denny Hamlin, was left confused about the rant.
Well, Hamlin wasn’t the only one. Bell, who caught a whiff of Joey’s post-race rant had this to say, “He was frustrated? That is interesting. I genuinely would not have guessed that. Well, I had got to him a couple times before and he made it very difficult on me, as he should. I got my run, and I took the moment, as I should. Yeah, I don’t think that I did anything that Joey has not done, and I’ve seen Joey do much worse. We will continue on.”
Now, coming to Denny Hamlin, on his latest episode of Actions Detrimental, the No. 11 driver wasn’t holding back. “That was an odd interview I listened to it and I just didn’t know how to take it because it was like, I was listening to Joey, it made it sound like the 20 just wiped them out or something and then he was all pissed and ‘I would have wrecked him, had I got back to him’ and I was like what. The whole thing was odd, and I could. I just felt like he was raging on the inside. It was odd to me.”
Hamlin’s not wrong. When Logano went off into his rant, many in the NASCAR community spoke up. Jordan Bianchi’s words summarised it best when he said, “If the shoe were on the other foot, Logano would have done the same exact thing…I don’t know how you can be critical of how Christopher Bell raced.”
Speaking further on the topic, Denny added, ” Well, they kept saying it on TV like Joey, you are giving him a pass to use you up, like you’re crowding him low, you’re crowding him high. I don’t know I just didn’t see and again we gotta give a little bit of the benefit of doubt cause he’s fresh out of the car, he hasn’t gone back and watched the race, he didn’t know how close this angle was or that angle was and maybe he didn’t know that he crowded, C. Bell into the fence a couple laps before. So, like you gotta give the drivers a little bit of grace because they are just fresh out of the car and they haven’t seen it all.”
With 35 laps remaining, the promoters’ caution was flagged, setting the stage for a pivotal pit stop. Bell, in the No. 20, seized the moment, pitting for fresh tires, and when the green flag dropped with only 28 laps left, he was already clawing his way to second. Logano, in the No. 22, fought tooth and nail, making his car as wide as possible, covering the inside line, and desperately trying to block Bell’s advances. With 22 laps to go, Bell nearly made the pass, slipping past Logano on the outside, only for Logano to claw back the position with every ounce of momentum he had. For 10 laps, Logano held on, a masterclass on old tires, but with 10 laps remaining, Bell, taking advantage of his new tires, overtook Logano with a lightning pass, while a dazed Logano tried to save himself from Ross Chastain.
For what it’s worth, Logano did go back and watch the race and realized his mistakes. “When I went back and re-watched it, I was like, that wasn’t as bad as I thought it was. I set the tone that we’re going to race like assholes. It’s OK that he did that to me. But in the moment you’re just pissed, right? You’re just like, ‘He ran me up the track.’ Then when I watched it, I was like, ‘Nah, it’s probably warranted.’”
Despite this, the damage was done. Criticism for Logano’s rant came in from NASCAR legends, too!
What NASCAR Legends Have to Say About Joey’s Rant
The post “He Was Raging” – Denny Hamlin Breaks Silence on Joey Logano’s Bizarre All-Star Meltdown appeared first on EssentiallySports.
