NASCAR insider calls out Joey Logano for 'continually' wrecking at superspeedways

One of the most high-profile wrecks of the night at the Daytona 500 came when Joey Logano attempted to punch his way past Ricky Stenhouse Jr. with about 15 laps to go.

Stenhouse came down hard for the block and Logano kept pushing. Eventually both cars ended up getting loose, collecting a number of other drivers in the field, including Kyle Busch.

The Athletic’s Jordan Bianchi pointed out this is becoming a bit of a recurring issue with Joey Logano.

“I want to talk about Logano. This is kind of a Team Penske problem in general,” Bianchi said on The Teardown podcast immediately after the race. “Team Penske again had the fastest cars. They do a great, great job of working together. What happened to them last fall at Talladega? They got overly aggressive.”

The wreck in question occurred with 15 laps to go when Logano got a big run out behind Stenhouse. As he closed down the space, Logano saw a lane to the middle to potentially slip by Stenhouse.

Stenhouse attempted to block him, and that’s what started the big chain reaction at the Daytona 500.

Both cars bumped a bit before eventually careening out of control and wiping several drivers out of the race, including Busch. Busch had some choice words for Logano after the race.

Bianchi was also critical of Joey Logano.

“The thing with Logano, and it has bit him a few times: He is very aggressive. Overly so sometimes, where he is a very aggressive pusher,” Bianchi said. “He throws big blocks. And it puts him in spots where you’re vulnerable. And you can see it tonight. Kyle Busch said it: Did he need to go three-wide there at that second? You can pick it apart and say no, but you can also say yes. So you go back and forth on this.”

In the end, Joey Logano finished 35th despite leading 43 laps in the race. That’s a tough blow for a guy who could have won the race if not for the late contact.

“There is a fine line between aggressive and overly aggressive,” Bianchi explained. “And if you continually get into wrecks and you’re causing wrecks, you probably need to re-evaluate a little bit and say what is going on here? I’m looking at the larger body of work here.

“Look at Logano, he runs really well in these races but he doesn’t get the finishes because he continually gets in these things. And people will tell you, he pushes so hard, sometimes overly hard.”