Dale Earnhardt Jr. takes issue with NASCAR penalty of Joey Logano

Joey Logano was penalized for a restart violation after he dipped below the yellow line before completely crossing the start/finish line during this past weekend’s race at Phoenix Raceway. Dale Earnhardt Jr. wasn’t a fan of the call.

The NASCAR Hall of Fame Inductee didn’t believe Logano should’ve had to relinquish the lead and serve a pass-through penalty. During the latest episode of the Dale Jr. Download, Earnhardt Jr. elaborated on what he thought to be some nitpicking on the behalf of the officials.

“This was an interesting one for me. … Sometimes NASCAR doesn’t call it. Sometimes they do call it. I do not remember the last time that they’ve called it on the front, you know — the leader, particularly at Phoenix. So that was pretty interesting,” Earnhardt Jr. proclaimed. “I thought it was pretty nitpicky. Did Joey break that rule? Yeah. … I didn’t think that Joey was trying to gain an advantage there. I don’t think he was doing anything to block the car behind him. I just think that he misjudged it.

“I felt like considering, the circumstances that it was a bit nitpicky based off of how hit and miss it’s been on calling those infractions at that particular racetrack, and those moments throughout the field over the last, probably — let’s just go back, five or six trips to this racetrack. It’s been, you know — they can’t get them all. I understand that. I’m not complaining. I don’t expect them to call all of them because they’re going to miss a few. It’s just human nature to error a little bit.

“So, you give them a little bit of grace there. But I felt like that they pounced on Joey. I mean, literally just half a tire or maybe a three quarters of the left front tire down on the apron when he crossed to start-finish-line. I didn’t think it was that aggressive.”

It certainly was surprising to see the call made, as the NASCAR on FOX booth was shocked in real-time, as well. Earnhardt Jr. added that a warning would’ve been better for the No. 22 team, as their day had a wrench thrown in it for no good reason.

“I feel like that that would have been a time to maybe give a warning to everyone,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “That would have been a moment to say, ‘Look, man, we’re not going to we’re not going to torpedo Joey’s day over about 12 inches of asphalt. He didn’t gain anything from it. He wasn’t blocking the car behind him.’

“Listen, forget about who’s in the car. Just, you know, Joey Logano fan or not — this is a guy just trying to run his race. He got a little aggressive. It would have been a good time to say, ‘All right, everybody, we’re going to — you know, we’re sending out a warning. The No. 22 car was aggressive there. Next time, the next car that does it — I don’t care if it’s a couple of inches, stop. You know, stop doing it.’

“I think that that would have been the play. But that’s just me. You don’t have to love it. I just feel like it was a little bit nitpicky.”

All told, the penalty took Joey Logano out of the race for the win, but he ended up coming home P13 when the checkered flag waved. At least it wasn’t a total disaster. Still, Dale Earnhardt Jr. would like to see it officiated differently in the future, regardless of the driver who commits the violation.