Did NASCAR do the right thing by not issuing penalties after California?

FONTANA, CA - MARCH 24: Joey Logano, driver of the #22 AAA Southern California Ford, walks back to his hauler in the garage area after an incident with Denny Hamlin (not pictured), driver of the #11 FedEx Express Toyota, in the last lap of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway on March 24, 2013 in Fontana, California. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
FONTANA, CA - MARCH 24:  Joey Logano, driver of the #22 AAA Southern California Ford, walks back to his hauler in the garage area after an incident with Denny Hamlin (not pictured), driver of the #11 FedEx Express Toyota, in the last lap of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway on March 24, 2013 in Fontana, California.  (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
FONTANA, CA – MARCH 24: Joey Logano, driver of the #22 AAA Southern California Ford, walks back to his hauler in the garage area after an incident with Denny Hamlin (not pictured), driver of the #11 FedEx Express Toyota, in the last lap of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway on March 24, 2013 in Fontana, California. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

It was the first ‘boys have at it’ moment of the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. After Sunday’s Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway, an angry Tony Stewart confronted driver Joey Logano on pit road. Stewart took issue with an alleged block Logano used on the final restart of the race. Stewart pulled his Chevy in front of the Ford driven by Logano on pit road; the drivers climbed from their respective cars and Stewart rushed at Logano. Several fists flew, although none seemed to connect. The incident lasted only moments before team members and NASCAR officials separated the two.

Stewart stormed off, while Logano stood in what seemed like disbelief.

“Tony was just upset about a restart that I was racing him really hard on the bottom trying to make sure I protected my spot,” Logano said afterwards.” What I was doing actually was I was racing the 18 on the restart and he was spinning his tires. The rule is you can’t beat him to the start finish line so I am pedaling it which gave Tony the run to go underneath me. I wanted to block that because I knew if he put me three-wide that would be the end of my race and I wouldn’t win. I was smart enough to realize that. Then I had to just do what I had to do to get to the front and try to win the race.” MORE>>>

Greg Engle
About Greg Engle 7421 Articles
Greg is a published award winning sportswriter who spent 23 years combined active and active reserve military service, much of that in and around the Special Operations community. Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.