Driver Joey Logano greets fans before a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Talladega Superspeedway, Sunday, April 27, 2025, in Talladega, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)
NASCAR Cup Series driver Austin Cindric celebrates after winning a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Talladega Superspeedway, Sunday, April 27, 2025, in Talladega, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)
Logano responds to criticism from Hall of Famer, asks ‘Has Chipper Jones ever driven a race car?’
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) 鈥 Joey Logano wondered Tuesday if Baseball Hall of Famer Chipper Jones had ever driven a race car at Talladega after the former Atlanta Braves slugger criticized the NASCAR champion in a series of social media posts.
Driver Joey Logano greets fans before a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Talladega Superspeedway, Sunday, April 27, 2025, in Talladega, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) 鈥 Joey Logano wondered Tuesday if Baseball Hall of Famer Chipper Jones had ever driven a race car at Talladega after the former Atlanta Braves slugger criticized the NASCAR champion in a series of social media posts.
Jones was defending , after Team Penske teammate Logano unleashed an expletive-laden rant about Cindric around the halfway mark of the race. Logano was furious he did not receive the help he needed from Cindric, which allowed rival Toyota driver Bubba Wallace to win the second stage and earn valuable bonus points.
鈥淲ay to go Austin. Way to go. You dumb (expletive). Way to (expletive) go,” Logano said on his team radio. “What a stupid (expletive). He just gave it to him. Gave Toyota a stage win. Nice job. Way to go. What the (expletive).鈥
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Jones was angered by Logano’s rant and in six social media posts congratulated Cindric, called Logano selfish and celebrated Logano being disqualified for failing postrace inspection.
鈥淕ood teammates are hard to come by, Boss! Remember that one of urs MFed u on national tv, when in all actuality, u did everything possible to keep from wrecking him,鈥 Jones wrote. 鈥淪ome people are 鈥榟ooray for our team as long as I鈥檓 the star鈥 as every team has them. Hendrick, RCR, JGR, Penske, etc. Sometimes karma is glorious.鈥
When told of Jones’ comments on a Tuesday appearance of SiriusXM NASCAR Radio鈥檚 鈥淭he Morning Drive,” Logano said he was unaware of them. Once he was told, Logano asked: 鈥淗as Chipper Jones ever driven a race car at Talladega? That would be my first question. I鈥檓 pretty certain he hasn鈥檛.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 like me saying something about baseball. I know nothing about baseball. That鈥檚 like me saying something that he did something in baseball that was wrong. That doesn鈥檛 matter.”
Logano continued by saying that as a former professional athlete, Jones should understand there was more to the situation than what he saw on television. Jones grew up outside Daytona International Speedway and was once the grand marshal for the Daytona 500.
鈥淐hipper Jones, he seems like a cool dude, he鈥檚 done a lot, right? He鈥檚 a pretty popular, good baseball player, but he鈥檚 not a race car driver, and I know he wasn鈥檛 in the room with us when we set in place the way things are supposed to go,鈥 Logano said. “You would think somebody that has been in professional sports and has been in meetings like that would probably take a step back and say, 鈥楳an, there鈥檚 probably more to the story here than what there is.鈥 I鈥檓 surprised it went that way. Maybe he was just bored. I don鈥檛 know what his situation is. I tell you I don鈥檛 care.鈥
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Logano said he and Cindric cleared the air in Penske’s Monday meeting.
鈥淎ustin and I talked about it. We鈥檝e got to move forward. That鈥檚 what it is,” he said. “I explained my side. He understood. We move on. There鈥檚 no sense in airing our dirty laundry and airing out what the actual rules are because that鈥檚 private information that doesn鈥檛 need to be out to everybody. But the facts are that what we set in place wasn鈥檛 happening and that鈥檚 why I got frustrated. Like I said, we talked about it and we moved on.鈥
Logano did acknowledge that he probably should not have hit the radio button and 鈥渟pouted off so much.鈥
鈥淧robably blew up into a little bigger situation than it needed to, but the conversation, either way, needed to happen. Just more people are talking about it now,鈥 he added.
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