All-Star Race winner Christopher Bell was surprised to hear that Joey Logano took issue with the way he was raced for the win in the closing laps of NASCAR's annual exhibition race.
Bell leaned on Logano and forced him up the track as he cleared him for the race lead with just ten laps to go, driving off with the victory and the $1 million dollar prize. Logano was critical of both Bell and the promoter's caution that gave Bell the opportunity to pit and gain a tire advantage over Logano, who stayed out in order to maintain control of the race.
Logano had led 139 of 250 laps, saying of the race-winning pass that Bell "kind of just ran me up into the wall, and if I could've got to him, he was going around after a move like that -- I just couldn't get back to him."
In the winner's press conference, Bell reacted with surprise upon hearing that Logano was displeased.
"He was frustrated?" asked Bell. "That is interesting. I genuinely would not have guessed that."
Bell then added: "Well, I had got to him a couple times before and he made it very difficult on me, as he should. I got my run, and I took the moment, as I should. Yeah, I don't think that I did anything that Joey has not done, and I've seen Joey do much worse. We will continue on."
Logano, a three-time champion of the sport, is one of the most aggressive drivers in NASCAR and went into the night as the defending winner of the All-Star Race. And in his post-race media interviews, Logano said this about how the two drivers will race each other moving forward: “I just race him the same way. That’s all it is. I mean, like I said, we’re racing for a million dollars. I get it, but we race each other every week and we’re like elephants, we don’t forget anything.”
