The way Joey Logano and Ricky Stenhouse talk about it, the crash they triggered last weekend in the Daytona 500 was ultimately a product of the tight confines of the modern superspeedway product in the Cup Series, even if they pick a part their respective roles in it.
They have chatted about it this past week.
Logano said there was a half-hearted block, twice, and the field stacked-up behind him.
“My takeaway is kind of the same that I thought it was always going to be,” Logano said. “There was a move to get down to the middle, no doubt the right move, to try to secure the track position to get to that second lane. Ricky’s move was a little late and I checked up for that.
“Where it all went wrong: I assumed he would go back to the third lane after the mistimed block the first time. He kind of veered that way and I throttled back up, said ‘okay here is my shot,’
“I was going to get in the hole. I got a push behind me and I was going to cycle to the front row. All that was right until he decided ‘I want to be in the middle’ and by time that happened, I started checking up for that but I’m getting pushed at that point.”
Logano said he was pushed by Noah Gragson and that everyone in that line was pushing forward. It coming to 14 laps to go in the Great American Race.
“I couldn’t get out (of the gas and) I couldn’t line back up,” Logano said. “I was just kind of stuck and that’s what caused the wreck.”
Stenhouse replied that the race is on the line with 15 laps to go and not taking the block lost him the race last year.
“So, that’s where, from my standpoint, you know, we were in the top lane,” Stenhouse said. “I was watching Joey in my mirror. I knew he was going to the middle. So, I was just kind of waiting on the move to go with him. All that worked out. He, you know, lifted enough to like — I was, you know, still in front of his front bumper, which was good. I thought, kind of everything settled down.
“I think where it got a little mishapped is, you know, that brought the field together. Then, I was looking at the No. 01 [Corey LaJoie], who I thought would be going down with us. When I looked up, he was higher than I had expected. So, I kind of wanted to be in line with him, to kind of get the draft down the back stretch. At that time, I thought Joey was just in line. Then, when I started easing back down, you know, Joey was in there, getting pushed. We just all kind of ran out of room.”
Ultimately, Stenhouse does believe that Logano tried to give him room but it didn’t work out because of the stack up the defending champion described.
“I think he hit [Kyle Busch] first, and then, you know, kind of caused us all to run into each other. But, you know, I think he was trying to give me room to ease down. The No. 8, you know, was just down there in the bottom lane, drafting as well. So, yeah, it all happened so fast.
“You know, when you watch it outside the car, it’s — you know, it’s easy to go back and say, ‘I should have done this or that.’ You know, I didn’t want to be in the top lane, because at that point I felt like Joey was the only reason the top lane was you know, there. He was pulling — there was only three cars in it. So, you know, I really wanted Joey behind [me].”
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.
