Martin Truex Jr. had one of the strongest cars in Sunday’s Auto Club Speedway before close-quarters racing from Joey Logano’s Ford sent him into the outside wall on Lap 152.
Truex insisted Logano hit him.
Though Truex was able to continue, things went from bad to worse for the driver of the No. 78 Toyota, who was flagged for speeding when he brought his car onto pit road two laps later to deal with the damage.
“We had a good run going until the No. 22 put our car into the fence,” said Truex, who finished 32nd. “There was a lot of right-side damage to the car, and we were pretty much toast after that incident. Not sure what he (Logano) was thinking about at the time, but that hit spoiled our day.
“We went from being a contender to the back of the field. Really frustrating to have a good car and not have anything to show for it. I think we were running in or close to the top five when the 22 rammed our Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Toyota.”
Logano took responsibility for the incident, though he disagreed there was contact between the cars.
“It was completely my fault,” he said. “I was going to go in on the outside of him, and he was going to go in on the top as well, and I just ended up being right on him. We never touched each other, but just taking the air off these cars makes them uncontrollable. I didn’t mean to do that.
“I was going to try to go to the top, and I just got a little bit close to him and got him free, so I’m taking the hit on that one.”
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.
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