At one point, as Joey Logano served a full-practice penalty in his car on pit road, his pregnant wife Brittany approached the car.
She leaned over the pit wall and put her hand up to the window net, which was within reach. Her husband did the same from inside the car.
“She was laughing (and said it) was like I was in jail, you know?” the driver said afterward. “I said, ‘It’s kind of like that, actually.'”
Logano said he had “time for a lot of thoughts in there” during his 50-minute penalty for failing pre-qualifying inspection four times on Friday — “mainly that it’s a total joke.”
NASCAR requires drivers serve their “practice hold” penalty in the car on pit road, buckled into the car with full safety equipment — and several other drivers had 15- or 30-minute punishments on Saturday.
But a driver had never missed the entirety of final practice before this. It made it look like Logano was serving a time out with a virtual dunce cap on his head as the other cars drove by.
And maybe that’s the point. NASCAR has ratcheted up the penalties as teams continue to mess around in inspection and not present their cars that are within the rules from the start.
But this penalty in particular seemed absurd because it wasn’t just a chunk of practice — it was all of it. So Logano just sat there and never turned a lap.
“I just think it makes the sport look dumb,” Logano said. “It’s kind of a joke. I don’t get it, personally. I think we can accomplish the same thing in a more professional manner.”
Logano said he understood the reason for a penalty, but said there was “no reason to sit out there.”
“Keep us in (the garage) or something,” he said.
He laughed.
“But coming from the guy who just sat in the car for an hour, sweating, it might not be the best thing to say,” he said.
Logano said he wasn’t too uncomfortable in the car — he ran his helmet fan and had several bottles of water — but wished he could have done something more productive with his time.
“I would have signed autographs or something,” he said of the fans milling near pit road. “I had nothing better to do. I was looking to get something out of it.”
But Kurt Culbert, NASCAR managing director of integrated marketing and communications, tweeted the penalty was fitting of the infraction.
Don’t do the crime if you can’t pay the fine. Simple logic here. EVERYONE knows the rules on this one. https://t.co/h24lBVUv5S
— Kurt Culbert (@KurtCulbert) September 23, 2017
So only the driver does the serving of penalty? I’ve seen worse and this didn’t happen before so yeah this pissed me off
I totally agree. Not a Joey fan, but this was right up there with ridiculousness in NASCAR. Not Joey’s fault that he failed inspection yesterday but his crew. Really tired of driver’s having to serve penalties, when they weren’t even involved. Start coming down harder on crew chief, car chief and pit crew…sorry, just MHO!
Kurt Culbert, you, sir are an idiot!!!!
I think Nascar just needs to start impounding cars and not letting teams in the garage till the start of the next on track session. So if a team has an issue in pre race inspection they may not enter the garage until the start of practice the next week, they will still have to unload and put car thou inspection befor they hit the track, if it’s pre qualifying inspection they impound the car over night, don’t get to qualify and are removed from the property. They again are allowed back in the trac at the start of the next session. They must still present a legal car to inspection befor they are allowed to practice. It’s a simple concept. You get 2 chances and then your are impounded.
Racing used to be about who could build the fastest race car. Winners were innovators. NASCAR is turning the sport into a legal system that reminds me of the bureaucracy of our federal and state governments. Regulate for safety and let them race.
Your Right, it is not racing it is abuse of the racers so that they can appeal to the stick and ball crowd’s mentality, in hope of gaining market share.
Excellent suggestion.
Amen! That is exactly how it should be. Each Race Organization will figure out how to build the fastest car they know how to, and they will figure out what makes other race teams fast. NASCAR is like the government; they can’t keep hands out of it.
And by the way, I’m 17, and I understand how it should work. Come on NASCAR, make the sport worth watching again!
We just lost more fans —- so stupid
I frankly feel like it something personal, he wins the race you take from him, plus fine him. He doesn’t make the playoff, I stopped watching, there was no need for me to watch. THEY TOOK CHAMPION AWAY FROM HIM, BY LETTING GOLDEN BOY’ JOHNSON TO HIM, SO I MISSED THIS SHENANIGAN. TO HEAR YOU DID THIS TO HIM. #BOYCOTT NG NFL. NOW #BOYCOTTING NASCAR, what’s a girl to do now ( So maybe I get ahead up on kneading a #LOGANO SWEATER. OH WAIT THAT A PENALTY TO.)
I frankly feel like it something personal, he wins the race you take from him, plus fine him. He doesn’t make the playoff, I stopped watching, there was no need for me to watch. THEY TOOK CHAMPION AWAY FROM HIM, BY LETTING GOLDEN BOY’ JOHNSON TO HIM, SO I MISSED THIS SHENANIGAN. TO HEAR YOU DID THIS TO HIM. #BOYCOTT NG NFL. NOW #BOYCOTTING NASCAR, what’s a girl to do now ( So maybe I get ahead up on kneading a #LOGANO SWEATER. OH WAIT THAT A PENALTY TOO.)
YES, very personal, very very very! So therefore UNPROFESSIONAL AS HELL. Heck we all know they HATE FORDS. Why FORDS even bother with this rotten band of idiots is beyond me. But yes, I thought that was a clear shot across the bow as to something absurd and persona. And KURT IS AN IDIOT!
Yep worry about ticket sales empty seats and one race a track and then pull stupid stunts like this. Not a Logano fan but let’s get real racing is competition not kindergarten. ???? tv is easy and not as costly
Cover the car on pit road, have the driver out doing pr in the camp grounds,or collecting donations for charity. Keep all the team members busy making lunch for NASCAR officals,or pole winners crew.
Do the crime,pay the fine! I I’m not a logano fan but I agree the crew chief , pit crew, and car chief should be the ones serving the penalty. Not The Driver ! He just gets in and drives what they prepare for him.
If it’s a Chevy it does not matter or maybe a toy
It is getting more obvious every damn day. They hate Fords!
We are Nascar and we do not care we all own a Chevy dealership.
In
Well that was stupid move on Nascar I am done watching or spending any money on that sport again I think they have just lost the few fans they had left time to watch Indy Car Racing better racers anyway
Nascar is a joke any more., and they wonder why they are losing fans.
If he didn’t pass inspection 4 times he shouldn’t be allowed to race n so goes the other driver that doesn’t pass inspection should be disqualified n points taken away n a fine
From time to time I look in on NASCAR to see what’s new. (Call it morbid curiosity.) I watch maybe fifty or so laps per season. In the 70s and 80s I was an avid fan. That went away in the 90s when drivers began acting like prima donnas. Now the management is as bad as the drivers, if not worse. There isn’t enough to compel me to pay good money to watch a NASCAR race these days or even watch a race on tv.
But what YURT CULBERT does not get is..so if you decide to dangle them over a croc pit..it is valid? What the heck is wrong with these people. If you feel missing quals is not effective enough, then you are perverse! Nascar is losing their minds and fans. They are crossing the line. Of course they will only do this crap for certain drivers!
Kurt Culbert needs to be fired, this job has already gone to to his head. What an idiot, is this the only penalty that NASCAR could come up with ?? He needs to sit out on pit road, firesuit and all, in one of the pace cars and watch the race from there. Maybe then he may realize how idiotic this penalty really is. What is he smoking ??
So is Kurt Culbert a relative of Prez Trump? Has good idea but childish way of delivering it giving him fodder for message instead of the main point.
This is just simply not as big of a deal as everyone wants to make it. Seriously, you’re going to take the time to write comments on this article, but because a driver had to sit on pit road you’re going to stop watching alltogether? Give me a break folks. You know that isn’t true. If NASCAR had said, “ok, we agree that penalty doesn’t make any sense, so Joey, go do whatever you want for an hour.” You would have just as many if not more fans bitching about how NASCAR doesn’t enforce their own rules, or changed their rules in the middle of the season/playoffs.
I am by no means a Logano fan but this right here is simply retarded.
This is not grade school, it’s supposed to be racing.