NASCAR: Joey Logano makes admission after Denny Hamlin scuffle

Joey Logano admitted that he “maybe shouldn’t have shoved” Denny Hamlin following the NASCAR Cup Series playoff race at Martinsville Speedway.

As usual, tensions were high following the opening race of the round of 8 of the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs at Martinsville Speedway.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin got into the left side of Team Penske’s Joey Logano as the laps wound down, sending Logano’s #22 Ford into the turn four wall of the four-turn, 0.526-mile (0.847-kilometer) Martinsville Speedway oval in Ridgeway, Virginia.

This caused one of Logano’s tires to go down, and it sent him spinning just a few laps later.

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Logano rebounded to finish in eighth place after falling to the rear of the field and making a pit stop while Hamlin managed to finish in fourth, scoring four more valuable points than Logano.

But after the race, even with both drivers above the Championship 4 cut line with two of the three round of 8 races remaining on the schedule, the two drivers confronted one another.

Hamlin later described the discussion as “civil” before Logano ended it by shoving him and quickly moving away.

This led to a brawl between crew members that also involved both drivers trying to get back at one another.

Considering the fact that it was Hamlin whose contact ultimately cost Logano these valuable points, Logano had a right to be upset.

But it was Logano’s shove, nothing that Hamlin did, that elevated the situation to beyond a simple “civil” discussion and into an all-out brawl that led into an animated interview with Hamlin that fans won’t be forgetting anytime soon.

Logano admitted that, and he even admitted that he “maybe shouldn’t have shoved” Hamlin.

Other than that, viewing the situation from start to finish, Logano really didn’t do anything wrong, whether you like him or not. He clearly understands that it was his own unnecessary shove that escalated the situation far beyond where it needed to be escalated.

Will Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano get into it again with one another before the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series season comes to and end? Will one or both of them qualify for the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami Speedway? Just two races remain in the round of 8 prior to the season finale.