Quite often, NASCAR drivers are furious with each other. Sometimes, that leads to heated confrontations after the race, revenge on the track at a later race and, occasionally, some thrown punches.
Joey Logano, now in his 14th full-time Cup Series season, has been in those types of situations in the past, and he said he can relate to what second-tier Xfinity Series driver Ty Gibbs was feeling when he punched Sam Mayer multiple times after Friday’s race at Martinsville Speedway.
Despite joking that he “shouldn’t be commenting on this” because he’s not picking sides, Logano did offer his perspective on the race and altercation. The Cup veteran had no issues with the racing, but the fight is a different situation.
“I wouldn’t say what happened on the race track was wrong, but I’d say what happened after was probably not the right direction,” Logano said Monday.
THE BOYS ARE THROWING DOWN pic.twitter.com/Ht9d574K80
— NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) April 9, 2022
Logano began his full-time Cup career at 18 competing for Joe Gibbs Racing, was aggressive on the track and has had his fair share of altercations over the years. Nineteen-year-old Gibbs — the grandson of legendary NASCAR owner Joe Gibbs for whom he currently races — is a talented and somewhat similarly aggressive driver whose star is rapidly rising with seven checkered flags in 26 Xfinity starts, including three already in 2022.
Gibbs looked poised to grab his fourth win of the season at Martinsville with a dominating performance that had him out front for 197 of 261 total laps. On the last lap, he lost the lead but still had a chance to win $100,000, depending on his finish, with NASCAR’s Dash 4 Cash bonus.
Mayer was also in the running for the 100 grand, and after Gibbs got shuffled back from the lead, Mayer pushed Gibbs up the track and out of the way. Mayer finished fifth, Gibbs was eighth and neither won the Dash 4 Cash (A.J. Allmendinger in third place did).
On pit road afterward, Gibbs shoved Mayer as Mayer took his helmet off, Mayer eventually shoved him back and Gibbs ended up punching his rival multiple times.
“I have a lot more grace for seeing that stuff after going through it myself,” Logano about the bump on the track as well as the fight. “Do I agree with the way it went down? No, I don’t. Have I done that type of thing before? Yeah, I have. Am I proud of it? No, not at all, but I learned from it, at least.
“And it’s part of growing up on TV. You’re growing up in a limelight, right? [He’s] a very popular driver, he’s very good, he wins, he’s in a great car and he’s pretty dang aggressive. And I can relate to all that. … So, I guess, taking a deep breath and understanding the big picture and handling things correctly is probably the way to go.”
But, Logano said, he’s “learned a lot” since his early days racing in NASCAR and noted that Gibbs throwing punches wasn’t the right way to address his on-track frustration.
The 2018 Cup champion also reiterated the common NASCAR mentality that drivers should expect to get raced the way they race others. So when Gibbs has previously bumped other drivers out of the way — like he did to his teammate, John Hunter Nemechek, at Richmond Raceway earlier this month before taking the checkered flag — he can’t be surprised that when he gets a taste of his own racing style.
“I don’t know if he had to go straight to fists right off the bat, but for what it was, if you’re gonna race a certain way, you gotta expect to be raced that way back,” Logano said. “That’s the driver code, and nobody can understand — that’s it. If you’re willing to push, you gotta be willing to take some pushes. And that’s kind of what it comes down to. …
“If you’re willing to push for a win, and someone’s willing to push for 100 grand behind you, one for the other at that point.”
