Logano defends NASCAR team

TALLADEGA, Ala. (AP) — Joey Logano defended Team Penske as the “most professional” team in auto racing Friday, one day after he was virtually stripped of his win at Richmond.

“I think we push as hard as we can because we’re looking for hundredths of a second, every race team is,” he said. “We’re going to have to push as hard as we can to be successful, and sometimes you go over that line. Apparently, every now and again, you may, but you have to find that edge and get right to it, and it’s a fine line. If you go a little bit over, we’re sitting with what we’re talking about today.”

Logano’s winning car at Richmond last weekend failed post-race inspection at NASCAR’s North Carolina headquarters and the sanctioning body on Thursday all but stripped him of his victory .

Logano keeps his trophy, but the win will not count toward playoff eligibility and Logano will not receive the five bonus playoff points. NASCAR also fined crew chief Todd Gordon $50,000 and docked both Logano and Team Penske 25 points each.

“What we got in trouble for was something that really didn’t make our car any faster,” Logano said. “I still look at it as a win. Obviously, from the outside we’ve lost all the benefits of the win. We’ve lost the playoff points. We’ve lost a lot of regular points. We’ve lost our crew chief for a couple of weeks. We’ve lost some cash. The penalty is pretty severe. It wasn’t like it was a big thing, but the rule is written and it’s black and white. We pushed a little bit too far and we’ll pay that penalty and move on and attack again.”