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Bob PockrassNASCAR
MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Martin Truex Jr. called Joey Logano‘s move in the final turn Sunday at Martinsville Speedway a “cheap shot” and threatened to retaliate against Logano when he gets the chance.
“He won the battle, but he’s not going to win the damn war,” Truex said. “I’m just not going to let him win [the championship]. I’m going to win it.”
Truex, who took second with nine laps left, had some slight contact over several laps with Logano before finally getting by him coming to the white flag. He took the lead, but Logano did a bump-and-run in Turn 3, continuing to hit Truex in going door-to-door through Turn 4 with Truex getting sideways.
Logano won, Denny Hamlin slipped by into second and Truex fell to third.
“I took the lead from him fair and square and then he gave me a cheap shot,” Truex said. “It’s a cheap win. I hope he’s proud of himself. … I’ll remember that if he’s in front of me coming to the checkered flag.”
Both Logano and Truex are in the playoffs, and the win vaulted Logano into being one of the four drivers eligible for the championship Nov. 18 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
“We didn’t wreck each other,” Logano said. “We bumped into each other a lot and that is what this sport was built on. I know a lot of fans out there aren’t too happy about it, but it is racing and that is what NASCAR is about and what stock car racing is.”
Logano team owner Roger Penske defended his driver, saying the move was fair.
“[Truex] is a racer and should know better than to say that — that was as clean a shot that you can have in a race like this,” Penske said. “I didn’t hear Kyle Busch … have any of that kind of conversation. To me, I’m looking forward.
“We want to go to Miami. To me, Joey drove a great race. He led most of the race. As far as I’m concerned, that’s just a comment I don’t think we deserve and we’ll race him day after day. It stirred some controversy he’s trying to spread.”
Truex indicated that it wasn’t over.
“It sucks,” Truex said. “It’s the way it goes. I can promise you I won’t forget what he did. … He decided to just knock me out of the way.
“I get that he wants to go to Homestead. I don’t know. I don’t race like that and I don’t appreciate it when others race me like that.”
Logano needs to hope Truex isn’t behind him in that race.
“[I’ll repay him] whenever he is first and I’m second and we’re coming off Turn 4 or coming into Turn 3 — we’ll just have to wait and see,” Truex said.
While angry, Truex wasn’t necessarily surprised by Logano’s move.
“I pretty much expected it from him,” Truex said. “I knew it was coming. … Bumping and banging is fine. I never touched him to pass him, so I thought I would get the same courtesy. Once I passed him, I thought he’s not just going to dump me or knock me out of the way blatantly — he’s going to at least try to pass me.
“He didn’t even try to pass me. It’s cheap, but he’s got his spot to go to Homestead, so I don’t know. What are you going to do?”
Truex said he would not have made such a move.
“I really wanted to win that race,” Truex said. “I felt like we definitely deserved it. We raced them all clean. We passed them clean all day long. … I pretty much having the feeling going into the backstretch that was going to happen and there was nothing I could do about it.”