Joey Logano was far from happy with his teammate, Austin Cindric, at the end of Stage 2 in Talladega Superspeedway last Sunday. The 26-year-old had failed to provide the reigning champion a crucial push that would have helped him win the stage, and Bubba Wallace ended up beating both of them. Logano, understandably, seethed with angry remarks at Cindric on his team radio.
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“Way to go, Austin,” he yelled. “Way to go. You dumb [expletive]. Way to [expletive] go. What a stupid [expletive]. God. He just gave it to him. Gave a Toyota a Stage win. Nice job. Way to go. What a dumb [expletive]. Put that in the book again.” The need for such harsh words against a teammate has come under question in multiple quarters since.
Former driver Kyle Petty, in an interview with NASCAR, stood behind Logano and stressed that drivers need to be able to vent out in such situations, regardless of who they are angry at.
He said, “When you drive for Penske, when you drive for Gibbs, and when you drive for Hendrick, three of those other guys out there that you’re trying to beat into submission are your teammates.”
“You show up to race for you. You’ve got to be selfish as a driver. I don’t think those comments are uncalled for.” Being on the edge for that long at a heat of over 130 degrees and a speed close to 200 miles per hour needs to have such perks.
And so, Petty declared, “They deserve to be able to make those comments and vent anytime they want to. Whether it’s their teammate or their mother.”
Petty’s opinion on how Cindric must respond
Logano’s anger went to waste as Cindric reached Victory Lane at the end of the race. On the other hand, the champion was disqualified from the race after his car was found violating the rulebook during post-race inspection. Nevertheless, Cindric could have some negative feelings about what Logano said about him.
Interestingly, he did not give Logano the push he needed, only because doing so would have led to a massive accident. After being checked up, he moved out of the line to prevent a collision. Petty believes that Cindric must hold his head high and not care about what Logano, Ryan Blaney, or anybody else thinks.
The win is what they all raced for, and it was he who got his team that. “No matter what anybody else thinks. No matter what anybody else’s opinion is. He won the race and that’s all that matters,” he said.
