FORT WORTH, TEXAS - Joey Logano said he didn’t need to apologize to Matt Kenseth after their incident last month at Kansas Speedway, which cost Kenseth a chance to win and advance in the Chase.
That episode led Kenseth to intentionally wreck Logano last weekend at Martinsville Speedway while Logano led. NASCAR suspended Kenseth two races for his actions.
Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. both suggested this week that Logano could have defused the situation by his comments and actions after the Kansas race.
Logano said Friday there was no reason to tell Kenseth he was sorry about their incident at Kansas.
“We were both racing hard and both knew the choices that were being made at the end of the race,’’ Logano said at Texas Motor Speedway.
Logano referenced an incident with Kevin Harvick late in the race at Texas earlier this year as a reason no phone call is needed in such a case.
“He was on the inside of me, and I took the risk of blocking,’’ Logano said of Harvick. “I took that risk, and I knew the consequences. He moved me out of the way. I said that is what I had coming to me.
“He kept his nose in there. I knew the chances I was taking. There was nothing I said to him. I didn’t expect a phone call from that. I didn’t expect anything. I felt like in that case I was in the wrong. I put myself in that situation, and I got moved up out of the groove.
“I wouldn’t say Harvick and I are the best of friends, but I didn’t have a problem with what he did. That is the way I feel like racing is. When you make moves like that, you know the risk you take.”
Logano also said he would not handle anything differently since Kansas.
“I am confident in the decisions that we have made,’’ Logano said. “I am confident in the decisions I made as a driver and the decisions we made as a team. So no, like I said earlier, that was a racing thing what happened at Kansas and I wouldn’t expect a phone call from someone else if that happened.
“I thought about it and it is a decision you make and you think about how you handle every situation and that is not the way you want to see a race end in Kansas that day. You want to battle it out all the way to the end. You don’t want to see that happen, but when I looked at it, the more I looked at it, it was just a racing thing. It just happened. It was unfortunate, but I would understand if it happened to me.’’
Last weekend’s crash left Logano with a 37th-place finish. He likely needs to win one of the next two races to again advance to the championship round at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
“To be honest I am not convinced it is a bad thing,’’ Logano said. “Our team is more fired up than ever. I am more focused than ever. I am pumped up about being here at the track. What happened last week is what happened last week. Is it the way we wanted it to go? No, of course not. Did we get the finish we felt we deserved that day? No, but this team has plenty of confidence coming off three in a row and in position for four. There is plenty of confidence and more drive than there has ever been.”