Logano, Busch meet before Phoenix race
The first face-to-face meeting between Kyle Busch and Joey Logano since last week’s postrace scuffle in Las Vegas is over.
Whether the drivers feel any better about things headed into Sunday’s race at Phoenix International Raceway is as open question.
The two were summoned to a 15-minute session Friday with NASCAR officials as everyone involved tried to put the pit road brawl to bed. Busch attempted to turn the attention to this weekend’s racing at Phoenix, saying almost nothing as he emerged from the meeting. He answered every question by repeating, “Everything’s great.”
Logano initiated a phone conversation with Busch on Tuesday. He said after Friday’s meeting it was good to sit with his former teammate and explain the on-track incident at Las Vegas was “an honest mistake.” Are the two OK? “I guess time will tell. We’ll see,” Logano said. “I hope he’s able to see that and know that I was sincere about it but time will tell.”
The two were racing for position Sunday at Las Vegas and Busch spun because of Logano’s hard racing. Busch stormed down pit road and threw a punch at Logano before crews intervened. Team Penske was not penalized for tackling Busch, even though he sustained a gash to his forehead in the scrum.
Logano said he has tried to persuade Busch with evidence he says shows he didn’t cause the wreck intentionally on the final lap.
“I really just tried to explain that I made a mistake underneath him,” Logano said. “That’s basically what it was. He asked for some data. I was able to show him that. It was pretty clear in my opinion what happened so that’s that.”
NASCAR chose not to penalize either driver for the post-race confrontation.
The Busch vs. Logano subplot adds heat to what already promised to be a sweaty race, with temperatures expected to reach the mid-90s at the track carved into the desert hills southwest of downtown Phoenix.
But Logano said he would never change his aggressive driving style despite the risks.