By Jerry Jordan, Editor
FORT WORTH, TX – The physical aspect of the post-race skirmish between Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin at Martinsville Speedway may be behind them but neither driver was backing down in their words at Texas Motor Speedway.
“I’m not going to let him touch me. First, the first thing, as a man you can’t just let that stuff happen,” Hamlin said.
Logano fired back when asked about Hamlin’s remarks, “I know, for me, as a man the first thing I do is own up to my mistakes.”
The two drivers are still seething over an on-track incident where Hamlin went too high on the track and put Logano into the wall. The contact severely impacted Logano’s day and after the race he confronted Hamlin about it. Everything appeared calm until Logano, unhappy that Hamlin didn’t apologize, gave him a shove on the should as he walked away. That’s when chaos ensued, the drivers had to be separated and then Hamlin ended up on his backside on pit road after a Logano crew member shoved him to the ground. That crew member was suspended from this week’s race by NASCAR.
During driver media availabilities this week, Logano and Hamlin were clearly not over the incident and although Hamlin has since admitted he made an error on the track, he wasn’t done firing verbal shots when prodded by the media.
“I was not going to give one inch. I misjudged. The on-track stuff was definitely my fault,” Hamlin said. “There was no intention to run into him or run him into the wall or anything like that. Because I put myself at a pretty big risk there of cutting tires as well, but I was just trying to use all the space that I could. Certainly, if it was like a teammate or someone else beside me or really anyone, yeah, I probably don’t gas it up quite as soon and try to take all of that space. All that stuff plays a factor for sure.”
Asked if he thought Logano was “trying to get in his head” as the two are both racing for a chance to make the final round of the playoffs at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Hamlin shot back, “No, he’s not that smart.”
Hamlin was also upset at Logano’s crew chief, Todd Gordon, saying, “It usually starts with the drivers and ends not. It’s part of it. It’s just who’s going to be the first crew member to intensify the situation. I thought that my guys were pretty level to be honest with you through that whole deal. I think you could see quite a few times Joey is right in front of them and no one lays a hand on Joey. I think it’s just lack of control that Todd’s got with his people.”
Logano was quick to defend Gordon, obviously disagreeing with Hamlin’s comments. He was; however, apologetic in that he felt like Hamlin caused him to act in a manner he now believes he shouldn’t have.
“I am sure he will turn it in that way,” Logano said. “Here are the facts. I think Todd (Gordon) has great control of our race team and is a great crew chief and does a great job leading all of us. I said it after the race to TV that I probably shouldn’t have gone down there looking for an apology for something he probably wasn’t going to apologize for and I let my emotions get the best of me. That was a mistake on my part. I probably didn’t handle that correctly. It doesn’t make what he did on the racetrack right but I think at the same time he will probably play that card as much as he wants, he can run his mouth as much as he wants. I am going to run my race and we will see who ends up ahead.
“Listen, he affected my character once, I am not going to let him do that again by throwing trash at someone and who they are and things like that.”
Logano said he is focused on getting to Homestead for the championship finale. The other stuff doesn’t matter to him. He has been in this position before, so he knows how to handle the pressure but he also admitted that one of the reasons the intensity seems so high is because a single mistake on the track can ruin and entire season’s work at this point.
“Intensity is ratcheted up because of what this rules package does,” Logano said. “All the cars are closer together, so the intensity is up a little bit more because a mistake on the track isn’t a two or three spot loss because there were three cars within three-seconds. Now there are 10 cars within three-seconds so if you make a mistake you lose four, five or six spots. The intensity is high because mistakes are more costly.
“We have been in this spot before, too. We have been in both spots before. You would like to be the one locked in. That is a really great place to be. We are still in a great spot. We are still in if it was over right now. Obviously, there are a lot of things that can happen in two races. We have to be solid for the next two weeks. If we win one, great.”
Despite the obvious tensions between them, Logano and Hamlin did agree on one thing – they both have to go out on the track and focus on the task at hand – running well and making the final round.