Joey Logano Leaks NASCAR’s Threat to Kick Teams Out of Daytona 500 After Chevy’s Defiance to $400,000 Fine

After the blatant race manipulation debacle that transpired in Martinsville, NASCAR had to step in and get its house in order before the championship race in Phoenix. The OEMs were in for a rude awakening. “We were very clear about our intentions going forward. Do we have a rule right now where we could do something? We don’t. Will we have a rule next year? 1,000%,” COO Steve O’Donnell said. But what happened leading up to the Championship 4?

$100,000 was the fine each driver and owner received after the blatant race manipulation tactics used by teams at Martinsville Speedway. Out of the three teams that were reprimanded by NASCAR, two of them were from the Chevrolet camp: the No.1 of Ross Chastain and the No.3 of Austin Dillon, so the total fine the Chevy camp incurred was $400,000. Although NASCAR chose not to penalize drivers in this instance (because it believed they acted the way they did based on team instructions on the radio), they were clear in their message ahead of the championship race in Phoenix.

“We’re not going to let people, drivers, teams, or OEMs challenge the integrity of the sport,” Steve O’Donnell added. Well, they certainly weren’t bluffing because NASCAR stuck by its words and put the drivers in a tough spot with a threat. That’s what Joey Logano addressed while talking to Kevin Harvick after being crowned the 2024 Cup Series champion.

But first, he gave his thoughts on NASCAR’s penalties after Martinsville. “First off, I think NASCAR did the right thing by doing something. They had to. If you let that go, it will continue to grow. If you go into Phoenix after something like that, it’s gonna be like, ‘Jeez.’ Everybody will be blocking everybody. So, NASCAR was put in a spot where that had to do something.” But what if NASCAR never had the evidence of radio messages?

Would they reach a similar conclusion? This was Joey Logano’s question on the Happy Hour podcast. “It’s a tricky place for NASCAR to be in. I don’t know exactly the answer. They did threaten us before the [Championship 4] race that if anyone manipulates the race somehow, you’re not racing in the Daytona 500 next year. Is that a threat? Is that real? I didn’t see anything happen yesterday.”

Denny Hamlin perfectly explained why the sister OEM teams try to go out of their way to help the big teams like HMS and JGR. He believed the teams dependent on technical alliances are bound to help the Big Brother organization. This comes with the threat of not being able to draw in from the pool of resources and data that OEM partners develop to run faster on the racetrack. But it seems like there’s more to this theory than just technical alliance.

Joey Logano shared a similar sentiment, stating why the manufacturers will have a big say in how teams run on the racetrack. “That’s the question you have to ask. Whoever’s signed your paycheck is who you answer to. If Chevy or Ford or Toyota are stroking these big checks, they say, hey, it’s very important to have our car in the championship 4, and we fund a lot of your stuff. You better do the right thing; you’re backed up against the wall, and it backs NASCAR up against the wall. I don’t know how to fix it,” he added.

But, before the driver’s meeting, the Chevy drivers did try their best to tilt the championship battle in their favor.

Ross Chastain and Carson Hocevar nearly wrecked Joey Logano in practice

Now, the message by NASCAR was indeed clear with the fines and suspension. The drivers knew NASCAR had strong punishments ready for drivers who make extreme maneuvers like Martinsville. However, if an accident or wreck happens during the practice run, no one would raise any doubts. While the teams do have the option of backup cars, they would be dealt a significant blow if something of the sort happened in the practice runs. And this is where the likes of Ross Chastain and Carson Hocevar tried to derail Team Penske and Ford’s championship dreams.

“We all unload for the practice; the No.1 is racing the dog cr*p out of the No.12, in practice. The No.77 unloads, backs up to me, had a straightaway gap, backed up to me with dirty air, and killed my run. So we’re doing this in practice. The week after you got dinked for that stuff. So you know how the weekend’s going to go; they are not backing off,” Logano revealed during the podcast.

He even drew parallels with Formula 1 and how he didn’t want NASCAR to look like F1 racing through the use of radio messaging. “If they didn’t say it on the radio, were they gonna make that call? I don’t know, but we have to do something or else we’re gonna look like F1, and that ain’t what we are, that’s not what we’re gonna be. So we have to do something, but what makes that stop?”

NASCAR will need to make tweaks to its rule book because, as things stand, the OEMs have the power to pull the strings.