Jeff Burton defends Joey Logano in Ricky Stenhouse wreck at Daytona, details mindset

Jeff Burton took some time to evaluate how the Daytona 500 shook out in the time following this past Sunday’s race, including an incident late in the race between Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Joey Logano.

Stenhouse Jr. threw a major block with Logano charging in the middle lane, and it’s been debated whether the latter could’ve been less aggressive and allow cooler heads to prevail. While it’s easy to dissect each move afterwards, Burton defended Logano a bit, believing that’s just the way it goes sometimes at tracks like Daytona.

“He’s looking in the mirror. He sees what’s behind him He knows it’s three-wide, and at some point, he’ll either be leading a three-wide line, or he’s going to be three-wide,” Burton said, regarding Stenhouse Jr. and his block, via Inside The Race. “I don’t think Joey or Ricky, either one wanted to be outside, three-wide. They wanted the middle. Joey had forward momentum, so Ricky did not want Joey underneath him with forward momentum, because that slides him down. So, he wanted to prevent that forward momentum from coming.

“They both would rather be in the middle. We saw it coming. He made the block. How many times have we seen this block? I mean, this is not an unusual block. It’s aggressive, but it’s not an unusual block. … It’s easy when we break it down here in slow motion, but when you’re sitting in that race car, once the contact is initially made, it’s game on then. That’s what Joey was describing, ‘I’m trying to get out of the gas, but I can’t get out,’ because they just get hooked together.

“Every time they hit, the front of Ricky’s car comes to the left, because he’s hitting him in the left-rear corner panel, and he just keeps going down and down and down. If you’re Ricky, and the situation you’re in, this is happening so quickly, it’s not like you can just turn right. And then Joey, I mean — he’s out of the gas, but he can’t get on the brakes because they’re running behind him. So, it’s the initial contact, and from there it’s just game on.”

The aggressiveness from Logano that created the wreck is the same aggressiveness that makes him one of the best superspeedway racers the Cup Series has seen, and Burton doesn’t want that to change for the reigning NASCAR champion.

“They’re aggressive as hell,” Burton stated, regarding Logano’s driving-style at tracks like Daytona. “When you’re super aggressive, you’re going to cross the line every now and then. Joey’s going to look at this and he’s certainly going to say, ‘Okay, what could I have done different?’ Ricky’s going to look at this and say, ‘What could I have done different?’ But if you’re going to win Daytona and Talladega, unless you’re in the right place at the right time, you’re going to have to fill a hole with forward momentum that’s uncomfortable, and you’re going to have to block one that’s coming that’s uncomfortable. You’re going to have to, and you’re going to have to live with the consequences.

“Knowing Joey, he’ll be reflective and think what he could’ve done different, but I think he thinks he made the move that he needed to make. He got blocked. When he got blocked, he feels like he was trying to get out of it and he just couldn’t. The only way to prevent it is to not make the move, and I think Joey’s going to make that move every time.”

It didn’t work out for Joey Logano or Ricky Stenhouse Jr. at Daytona, but they’ll both always be a threat at every superspeedway moving forward. Perhaps they’ll have better luck this coming weekend, with the Cup Series heading to Atlanta Motor Speedway.