After falling short in his bid to go back-to-back in the All-Star Race, Joey Logano initially criticized Christopher Bell for how the final laps unfolded. But after reviewing the footage, it appears Logano had a change of heart and walked back his remarks.
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The race, defined by a record-setting number of lead changes, boiled down to a gritty 28-lap green-flag run that set the stage for a late-race showdown between Bell and Logano. The No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing driver, armed with fresher right-side tires after pitting under the promoter’s caution on Lap 216, restarted sixth on Lap 223.
He wasted no time slicing through the field, moving past Ross Chastain on Lap 227 to take second. From there, Bell turned up the pressure, reeled in Logano, and on Lap 241, pulled even. He moved Logano up the track and completed the race-winning pass.
Logano, while accepting defeat, didn’t hide his frustration in the immediate aftermath. He sarcastically called Bell’s move “fair” and made it clear he would have returned the favor had he managed to close the gap.
However, by Monday, ahead of a ceremony hosted by the Town of Mooresville honoring the championship teams of Logano and Ryan Blaney, the tone had shifted.
After reviewing the clip, Logano admitted the move wasn’t as egregious as it had first seemed. He noted that his frustration would have been justified had Bell moved him on the first attempt. Instead, Bell made several clean efforts to complete the pass.
“I ran him all up and down the racetrack. So I opened the door,” Logano said to NBC Sports. “Like, at that point, I opened the door (to more aggressive racing). I had to do that to try to maintain the lead. But it also to me, it was like, OK, well, if you’re willing to do that, you should be able to move that person up the racetrack. Then I should have been able to get back at him.”
The three-time Cup champion acknowledged that he set the tone between the two and admitted Bell’s response was fair game. In the moment, he accepted that he was just pissed, but “Then when I watched it, I was like, ‘Nah, it’s probably warranted.’”
#NASCAR … A day after finishing 2nd in All-Star Race, Joey Logano takes back critical comments of how Christopher Bell raced him for the win.https://t.co/JeQLaOoY2q
— Dustin Long (@dustinlong) May 20, 2025
He took full responsibility for his post-race comments, conceding Bell’s point that Logano would have done the same if the roles were reversed, now rang true. “I’m a really bad loser. I’m a sore loser. I can’t help it. It is who I am, but I think that’s also what makes us winners,” Logano concluded.
For many NASCAR fans, Logano’s candid acknowledgment and accountability might have now offered a rare moment of self-awareness, earning respect for owning his words, and recognizing that what happened on track was just hard racing.
