Kurt Busch Joins Growing List Of Logano Rivals

Busch was unhappy with Logano's last-lap tactics

Add Kurt Busch to the list of drivers unhappy with the tactics of rival Joey Logano. 

Busch was fourth on the final lap of Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway, before contact with Logano sent him spinning through the infield grass en route to a 23^rd-place finish that left the Stewart Haas Racing driver seething. 

"We positioned ourselves to be the car to get a good run off the bottom,” said Busch, who is now 0-for-62 in restrictor plate races at Daytona and Talladega. “It just didn't work out with him trying to drive straight through us. It would have worked out better if he would have pushed us. We could have had a shot at (Brad Keselowski).” 

Saturday night’s clash was the latest in a series of set-tos for Logano, punctuated by a 2015 feud with Matt Kenseth that began with Kenseth spinning out of the lead at Kansas Speedway and ended with Logano being harpooned out of a potential win (and championship contention) at Martinsville. 

Logano: "I hate that I got into Kurt..."

There have been other clashes, as well, including a 2013 Bristol dispute with Denny Hamlin that may (or may not, depending on who you ask) have led to Hamlin’s broken back at Auto Club Speedway later that season. There was a second Fontana fracas with Martin Truex, Jr., and harsh feelings from Kevin Harvick following this year’s Daytona 500. All directed at a Penske Racing driver who – some say – steps over the line too easily and too often. 

Logano called Saturday’s the final lap, “hard fought, for sure,” saying, “I hate that I got into Kurt at the end, racing to the line. I had a run to turn up underneath him. When you do that, the cars get free. I was there and he tried to catch it and I was there again. 

“It is a product of this (kind of) racing,” said Logano, pointing to a 19-car melee that eliminated a number of contenders early in the event. “I hate that it happened. The last thing I want to do is hit someone like that. Unfortunately, it happened.”  

Busch saw it differently, saying, “We did everything right tonight, except cross the line where we were supposed to.”  

Crew chief Tony Gibson was more succinct, tweeting, “Stupid is as stupid does!!! #22” 

“Logano sees he has a chance to outrun his teammate, so he’s going to wreck you to (do it),” said Gibson, post-race. “It's just a shame. We had a fast car, (but) Logano races people like that. That's why he'll never win a championship. If he keeps pissing people off like that, he's never going to win. It's just stupid. Stupidity.” 

Roger Penske for the defense

Logano did have one outspoken supporter following Saturday night’s race. Team owner Roger Penske said his driver "has taken undue criticism -- from my perspective -- based on some of the things that have happened. Certainly you can go back (and criticize), but I can name three or four things that certainly weren't his fault.

"Honestly, I think he's one of the best drivers on the race track, day in and day out. Sure, people make mistakes. A lot of these drivers knock somebody off the track, and say, ‘Hey, I’m sorry.’ But they don’t let Logano do that. As far as I'm concerned, I'm behind him 300 percent. 

“This is not a popularity contest,” said the man they call `The Captain.’ “And anybody that thinks it is, shouldn’t be sitting here. This is racing and unfortunately, some people have different ideas. But I wouldn’t trade these two drivers for anyone. They’re young, they’re aggressive and they win races. They work well with the sponsors, and they’re high integrity guys, so move on from there.”

“I'll talk to Kurt,” said Penske, who ironically fielded the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil entry for Busch in 2011. “He didn't do it on purpose. At the end of the day, that's racing as far as I'm concerned. 

Busch, however, is not likely to be swayed. After Saturday’s race, he accused Logano of making “an aggressive mistake,” adding “you can't go from fifth to first. There's just no shot at it. It's a shame that we ended up spun around and wrecked. We could have come out of here with the point lead." 

No matter whose side you’re on – and there are plenty of observers in either camp --  it looks like ever-smiling Joey may have to watch his back again in coming weeks, once again worried about an unhappy rival exacting his pound of flesh.

It’s a scenario he is rapidly becoming accustomed to.