Team Penske's Joey Logano was "pissed off" after finishing in second place behind Joe Gibbs Racing's Christopher Bell in Sunday night's NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway.
After complaining about Bell's move, which was literally nothing compared to what we've seen from others (including Logano) in the past, and claiming that he would have spun him out had he gotten back to him, Logano also complained about the promoter's caution and claimed that he doesn't like "gimmicks".
First of all, promoter's caution or not, there was going to be a caution flag exactly when that promoter's caution happened anyway, due to the fact that Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson hit the wall.
Logano stayed out on the race track, opting not to pit and take tires, and it bit him. Bell beat him, straight-up. There was nothing dirty about it.
But beyond that, the "gimmick" remark is hilariously ironic from a driver who won last year's championship without finishing in the top 10 in the point standings, and the NASCAR fanbase took notice.
Joey Logano roasted after ironic 'gimmick' statement
Logano got into last year's playoffs with a five-overtime win at Nashville Superspeedway over Zane Smith, the driver who sat in last place in the point standings at the time. Without that win, he doesn't get in. He was 15th in regular season points, and while he was inside the top 16, several others from below him punched their tickets to the postseason with wins of their own.
He was then eliminated at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval after a rough round of 12, until Alex Bowman was disqualified. That allowed him to advance to the round of 8, where he immediately won to punch his ticket to the Championship 4.
Despite still not being particularly close to the top 10 in total points (he was still only 15th), he basically got himself a two-week bye to prepare for the championship at Phoenix Raceway, which he won.
Of course, a championship is a championship. We're not going to sit here and say that Logano isn't a deserving three-time champion. Everybody plays by the same rules, and Logano beat everybody at the same game in 2018, 2022, and 2024. He did what nobody else could on all three occasions.
That's not the point.
But for Logano to say he doesn't like gimmicks? Give me a break.
I personally don't dislike the playoffs as much as a lot of people do. But I can still admit that the playoffs are one of the biggest gimmicks NASCAR has ever introduced, specifically when the knockout format was introduced in 2014, and believe it or not, at no point in his career has the three-time champion Logano actually led the series in total points scored over an entire 36-race season.
Yes, the promoter's caution was a gimmick, but as we discussed above, it literally didn't matter tonight. And even if it did, everyone knew the rules coming into the weekend. Don't air your grievances after the fact.
You simply can't have it both ways. You either like gimmicks, or you don't.
Bell earned the win, and he earned the $1,000,000, just like Logano did last year.
And no, none of his competitors sat around needlessly complaining about it, much less after a totally acceptable move like we saw Bell make to take the victory.