Mark Martin reacts to NASCAR penalty for Joey Logano in aftermath of Austin Dillon, Richmond

Joey Logano was one corner away from winning this past Sunday’s Cook Out 400 at Richmond until Austin Dillon came from four to five car lengths back and put him into the wall.

That enraged Logano, who revved his engine on pit road near a crowd of people which included Dillon’s family. NASCAR found that act unacceptable and fined him $50,000 Wednesday. Making an appearance on the “Dale Jr. Download” this week, NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin said that while he found the fine amount excessive, he understands it was needed to deter future incidents on pit road after races.

“I think we need to keep safety in mind,” Martin said. “I think that kind of fine for Joey is actually in my eyes — it was a safety thing, and I get it completely. But it’s pretty excessive. And so, the good thing about having an excessive penalty for something like that is it deters it in the future. Honestly, I felt like that $50,000 fine for what he did — he shouldn’t have done it. He should’ve known better; Joey should’ve known better. But if you were in Joey’s head, you knew that you had control of it. Joey knew he wasn’t gonna run over somebody, but everybody else doesn’t know that.

“And if you go at that with an excessive penalty like what I think that was, it deters it. We don’t need that. We definitely don’t need anybody ever getting hurt. The sport needs no contact after the race is over. That should not happen. That should always be taken seriously. As soon as that race is over, there should be no contact on the racetrack, certainly no contact on pit road as well. We gotta keep these guys safe. NASCAR’s done a good job in the past 20 years since we introduced the speed limit on pit road, have done a great job. You can’t be having temper tantrums on pit road after the race. And so, I think they made a good call there.”

Elton Sawyer remarks on Joey Logano penalty: ‘He knows better’

Logano and his team are not appealing the penalty, according to Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports. Elton Sawyer, NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition, explained why the $50,000 fine was necessary.

“That’s exactly right and totally understand the emotion of what went on there, and Joey’s a champion,” Sawyer said. “He knows better. We just had, there’s too many people out there, which is something on our side, we’ve got to do a better job of making sure we’re protecting, you know, our fans that are there, our families, the kids.

“Even with them behind the hot side, we still have security, we still have our NASCAR officials out there. So, it’s in the comms every week that goes out to the race teams that as you’re coming down pit road postrace and we’re capturing all the cars, to be careful, and obviously, this was one, and we’ve been consistent with this call on pit road and that’s why the penalty rose to the level it did for Joey.”