Welcome to FTW’s NASCAR Feud of the Week, where we provide a detailed breakdown of the latest absurd, funny and sometimes legitimate controversies and issues within the racing world.
In what started as a heated conversation between Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin on pit road after NASCAR’s race at Martinsville Speedway, quickly escalated. Hamlin waved his index finger at Logano, who then shoved Hamlin as he walked away and a scuffle between their two teams broke out.
When Hamlin spoke with NBC Sports afterward, he was incensed. He criticized Logano for shoving him and running away, called the No. 22 Ford driver “scared” and then did an impression of him.
Asked what happened on track that led to the incident afterward, Hamlin said Logano’s car was “collateral damage” when the two ran out of room into Turn 4 at the Martinsville short track and made contact. But then he speculated what Logano would say about it with an unflattering impression: “He would probably say, ‘Ehh, short track racing.'”
Logano wasn’t impressed.
Answering multiple questions at Texas Motor Speedway on Friday about the scuffle, Logano — who previously said at Martinsville he shouldn’t have shoved Hamlin — was asked to weigh in on the impression.
Logano said:
“He missed it a little bit. Listen, he affected my character once, I am not going to let him do that again by throwing trash at someone and who they are and things like that. What happened was something on the race track and what happened afterwards was a lot of emotions and that is all I can control.”
With three races remaining in the 2019 season, both Hamlin and Logano are still in the playoffs and are competing for one of the three remaining spots in the Championship 4 finale. Logano said he has no intention of racing Hamlin any differently this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway or beyond, adding he will race him “the way I want to.”
The AAA Texas 500 is Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN.
