Joey Logano fires back at criticism in fallout of wreck with Ricky Stenhouse at Daytona

Joey Logano fired back at the criticism he’s received following the Daytona 500 last weekend after he was involved in a wreck when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. blocked his charge late in the race.

For context, Stenhouse Jr. threw a major block with Logano making a run in the middle lane, and it’s been debated whether the latter could’ve been less aggressive and allow cooler heads to prevail. With Daytona in the rearview and Atlanta coming up this weekend, Logano spoke on the backlash he’s received from numerous sources.

“My takeaway is kind of the same as what I thought it was going to be,” Logano stated, via Danielle Trotta of SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “You know, there was a move to get down to the middle. It was no doubt the right move, to try to secure his track position up there, and get to that second lane. Ricky’s block was, was a little late, right? I checked up for that. Where it all went wrong is I assumed he was going to go back up to the third lane after the mistimed block the first time, and he kind of veered up that way.

“At that point, I throttled back up and said, ‘Okay, here’s my shot. I’m going to get into this hole. I’ve got to push behind me. I’m going to be able to, you know, cycle right up here to the front row, really quickly.’ All that is right, until you know, [Stenhouse Jr.] kind of decided that, you know, ‘I want to be in the middle.’ By the time that happened, I started checking up for that, but I’m getting pushed.

“At that point, you know, the No. 4 is on the gas, the car behind him is on the gas. Everybody’s ready to push into it, and I couldn’t get out at that point. I couldn’t line back up, I couldn’t get out. I was kind of stuck. And that’s what caused the wreck.”

That’s a level-headed take from Logano regarding the whole situation, and it makes sense when you evaluate both drivers and their roles at the moment. They can’t take it back though, and one unfortunate ripple effect of the incident was the reigning champion’s teammate, Ryan Blaney, was involved in the wreck.

In continuing his soliloquy, Logano dished on whether he spoke with Blaney following the way it all worked out, regretting the fact that the No. 12 got caught up in the destruction.

“It’s just like any other conflict you have with your spouse, right? Where’s the intention, right? Is the intention to wreck your teammate? Absolutely not,” Logano stated. “Does it go against any of our rules that we come up as a team with, on how we win speedways? No, it did not. Does it suck, absolutely, right? It still hurts. But, you know, I can look at that move like I said, three different ways.

“The move, in my mind is still right — still the right move to try to get in front of Ricky there. Ricky and I had a conversation about it, and he feels the same as me. When we talked about it, he agreed. So, it’s just is what it is.”

Alas, Logano will simply be moving on from what went down in Daytona, and we’re willing to bet it won’t hamper his aggressiveness this weekend in Atlanta. Perhaps a second straight win at the track will make him feel a bit better about the entire ordeal.