While many people are upset with his “dirty” move, Joey Logano had no obligation to let Martin Truex Jr. win the opening race of the round of 8 of the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
Team Penske’s Joey Logano led 308 of the first 498 laps of the First Data 500, the opening race of the round of 8 of the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, at Martinsville Speedway this past Sunday after starting in 10th place in his #22 Ford.
But after a battle with Logano that lasted for several laps toward the end of the race, Furniture Row Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. finally managed to take the lead in his #78 Toyota as he took the white flag.
Truex Jr. cleared Logano after turn two on the 500th lap of the 500-lap race around the four-turn, 0.526-mile (0.847-kilometer) Martinsville Speedway oval in Ridgeway, Virginia.
But Logano wasn’t done just yet.
Logano moved Truex Jr. out of the way in turn three, and the two drivers bumped and banged into one another through turn four before Logano ultimately ended up taking the checkered flag ahead of Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, who snuck up and took second place away from Truex Jr., who finished in third.
Here is a video of this dramatic finish.
As a result, many fans have called Logano a “dirty” driver and claimed that his move on Truex Jr. was a “dirty” move. In fact, many of these fans have referred to him by words that I cannot say in this article.
A lot of this criticism stems from the fact that Logano and Truex Jr. had been battling for several laps leading up to the white flag and Truex Jr., despite the fact that he was trailing Logano in second place, did not resort to making a “dirty” move and either moving Logano out of the way or completely spinning him out to take the lead of the race and then potentially win it.
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However, just because Truex Jr. chose not to spin Logano out does not mean that Logano was just supposed to yield to Truex Jr. once Truex Jr. finally took the lead. If that were the case, the race would have been dubbed the First Data 499.5, not the First Data 500.
If you think Logano should have just let Truex Jr. win the race and clinch a berth in the Championship 4 while putting himself in a position where he still needed to fight to get into the Championship 4 over the course of the final two races of the round of 8, you really shouldn’t even be bothering to watch NASCAR, a sport that, since its inception, has featured drivers bumping and banging to gain an advantage, and, in many cases, spinning other drivers out.
Kyle Busch quotes aren’t generally the best quotes to use in controversial situations, but to quote the 2015 Cup Series champion, “if you don’t like that kind of racing, don’t even watch.”
When this quote is used in this particular situation, Busch could not possibly be more correct.
Plus, it’s not like Logano spun Truex Jr. out. He didn’t do nearly what Hamlin did to Chase Elliott last year in the round of 8 race at Martinsville Speedway. Truex Jr. still finished the race in third place, and, in all honesty, likely would have finished in second had he not tried to fight back once Logano moved him out of the way. In fact, he may have even still won it.
I have no doubt that some kind of payback is in store for Joey Logano from Martin Truex Jr., and I have no reason not to understand why Truex Jr. is upset about this incident.
But the fact that people actually believe that Logano, who dominated the race, did not deserve to win it simply because he moved Truex Jr. out of the way — without wrecking him — after Truex Jr. did not spin Logano out is ridiculous, especially considering the fact that a berth in the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 was on the line.