Joey Logano breaks silence on severe criticism over his involvement in the BIG wreck at Daytona 500
Team Penske Racing veteran Joey Logano has shifted some blame for the Daytona 500 wreck to Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
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Joey Logano (Via IMAGO)
The 2025 NASCAR Cup season opener, the Daytona 500 was the wreck fest as expected, with William Byron securing back-to-back victories at Florida, taking advantage of a last-lap wreck. It was one of the many wrecks that changed the whole race, but not the most significant one, as that label belongs to the wreck caused by Joey Logano with around 20 laps left in the race.
The defending Cup Series champion Joey Logano tried to overtake Ricky Stenhouse Jr., resulting in the Hyak Motorsports racer making a late block that caused a chain reaction that collected the likes of Ryan Blaney, Kyle Busch and Chase Elliott. The Team Penske racer was criticized left and right for the incident, but now ahead of Atlanta race, the veteran has made some valid points that shifts blame to Stenhouse Jr. as well as the timing.
Logano on the move he and Ricky made at Daytona and how he settled that w Blaney the following days as a teammate getting caught up in that wreck. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/ouUdpkYVfE
— Danielle Trotta (@DanielleTrotta) February 22, 2025
You know, there was a move to get down to the middle. It was no doubt the right move, to try to secure his track position up there, and get to that second lane. Ricky’s block was, was a little late, right? I checked up for that. Where it all went wrong is I assumed he was going to go back up to the third lane after the mistimed block the first time, and he kind of veered up that way.
Joey Logano told Danielle Trotta of SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
He got caught up in the middle owing to the late block from Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and the push he got from behind. With everyone pushing each other go forward and take the gap, there was no opportunity for him to get out at the point. He blamed this chaos for the big wreck that ended his and few other days in Florida.
At that point, you know, the No. 4 is on the gas, the car behind him is on the gas. Everybody’s ready to push into it, and I couldn’t get out at that point. I couldn’t line back up, I couldn’t get out. I was kind of stuck. And that’s what caused the wreck.
Joey Logano added.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. gives his counter narrative about the situation
With some blame coming on his shoulders, the 2023 Daytona 500 winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr. shared his feelings about the incident and gave his narratives. He pointed out that how he made a small mistake while blocking Logano and him failing to judge Logano’s position resulted in then running out of room before the wreck occurred.
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.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. said.
The comments from Stenhouse Jr. proves there is some validation to the claims from Logano, they were victims of circumstances at the moment. But at the same time the duo has to learn from the experience and apply those learning at Atlanta and other Superspeedway races to ensure such incidents doesn’t happen again.
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Justin P Joy
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