NASCAR insiders rip Joey Logano for post-race Christopher Bell comments, warning

Joey Logano was blind with rage after losing the 2025 NASCAR All-Star Race to Christopher Bell. He made some startling comments, claiming he would’ve spun the eventual race winner if he got to his bumper before the checkered flag waved at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

Evidently, that didn’t sit right with Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic. On the latest episode of their podcast The Teardown, the NASCAR insiders took issue with Logano’s frustration, trying to piece together why he was made, not believing Bell did anything dirty while going for the lead.

“I was watching it and I thought, here’s Christopher Bell. He’s chasing down Joey Logano on older tires. Logano has older tires. Logano is blocking his butt off. He’s doing the defending as classic Joey. Doing all the stuff he needs to do, and very admirably. He’s putting up a hell of a fight for 41 lap-older tires,” Gluck recounted. “I’m like, ‘Dude, this is remarkable if he can hold him off.’ Now, I thought he kind of drove Bell up the track a couple of times. I mean, he was making it as hard as possible for Bell to pass.

“Bell obviously has been on the record saying, ‘I want to change the reputation of cup racing. I want to make people think cleaner, that you don’t have to just shove people out of the way to do it.’ I felt like, when I’m watching Bell drive and battle with Logano, he was trying as hard as he could to have a good, clean finish and not just bump Joey out of the way, even though [Ross] Chastain was in the picture and he was starting to get some heat on him. So, ultimately he makes a pass and he kind of runs Joey up [the track] after he got the position on him.

“I was done with the race thinking, ‘Wow, what an all-star drive by Christopher Bell,’ because he went out there and he took it. Logano also had an all-star effort to put up a fight there. But hey, very fair racing. I thought, clean short-track racing. No issues here. Then, Logano gets out of the car and he’s like, ‘He was going to go around. I was going to send him [because of] the move he did,’ all this stuff. Logano was just sort of outraged or incensed, it seemed like, [because] Bell had done that. … Then he told reporters after the race on pit road that [he’s] going to race him like he races me going forward and all this stuff.

“I’m just like, what? I don’t understand what I’m watching here. Like, did I miss something? Because I felt like Logano raced him plenty hard, moved him up the track. Blocked him. I thought Bell raced [him] totally fine. Am I missing something? What happened here?”

Alas, Bianchi was in full agreement with Gluck. He thought Logano of all people would understand Bell’s position, as the three-time champion’s reputation precedes him.

“I didn’t understand that either,” Bianchi agreed. “I walked over to Logano and I heard the end of his comments and I’m like, ‘What did I miss? Like, what did I miss?’ Bell didn’t do anything. Bell raced, honestly, I think Bell raced pretty darn clean, all things considered. Like, in a non-points race where it’s kind of an excuse if you’re going to move people around and it’s okay to spin somebody out. Like, I don’t think Bell did anything wrong.

“Bell, all things considered, raced him fairly clean. Let’s be honest, if the shoe is on the other foot, Logano would have done the same exact thing as Bell. There’s a long enough history there to suggest that. That’s not a criticism. That’s who Joey Logano is. That’s why he’s a three-time champion, in a lot of respects. Like, I don’t know how you can be critical of how Christopher Bell raced.

“He raced you fair, he raced you hard, but he didn’t do you dirty. He didn’t push you into the wall. He didn’t spin you out. He didn’t just move you up the racetrack, like, aggressively. It was pretty, all things considered, that was very on the up and up. I am stunned that Logano thinks otherwise.”

Perhaps Joey Logano will walk back his comments during the week, and he simply let his emotions get the best of him. It doesn’t make much sense for him to be this dissatisfied with Christopher Bell, but it’s tough to tell someone how to feel after missing out on a million dollars.