Joey Logano expresses his dissatisfaction with NASCAR’s decision to allow Denny Hamlin’s jump start in Richmond to go unpunished. Hamlin’s victory in overtime at Richmond sparked controversy as he allegedly made a jump start on the final restart to secure the win, beating his teammate. Initially, NASCAR cleared Hamlin of any wrongdoing, but later admitted to missing the incident and taking too long to acknowledge it.
Joey Logano, a two-time NASCAR Cup champion who finished second in the Toyota Owners 400, is unhappy with NASCAR’s decision. He believes that if he made the same move next week, he would be penalized. Logano also criticizes NASCAR for only reviewing the incident after Martin Truex Jr. complained, suggesting that this reflects poorly on race control.
The Team Penske driver raises a valid point, as NASCAR should have acknowledged the issue. He also mentions that the sanctioning body has reviewed jump start incidents in the past. Although race control made the wrong call on Sunday, there is nothing that can be done now except to move on.
The JGR veteran driver partially blames Joey Logano for the jump start issue, noting that Logano was dictating the restart and his decision to back off and take advantage led Hamlin to accelerate prematurely. Logano would have had a momentum advantage if Hamlin had waited longer to accelerate.
While Hamlin has a point about Logano’s role in dictating the restart, ultimately it was Hamlin who had the most control and decided to accelerate early. The race and its results are now in the past, and there is nothing that can be changed. However, NASCAR should be cautious in its future decisions to affirm to the paddock that jump starts will not be tolerated.
