NASCAR told drivers over the weekend at Phoenix Raceway that any instances of race manipulation in the championship race would cost them dearly.
Newly crowned three-time champion Joey Logano relayed the message on Monday during an interview with 2014 champion Kevin Harvick on his Happy Hour YouTube show.
This edict was a response to the race manipulation debacle that erupted in the aftermath of the penultimate race of the season at Martinsville.
NASCAR suspended crew chiefs, team managers and spotters but ultimately chose not to directly penalize drivers… this time.
Steve O’Donnell, a top NASCAR executive, did not mince words about the topic last week.
“To what just happened at Martinsville, I would argue before what we saw, one of the best races again that I’ve seen in the playoffs,” O’Donnell said. “And it’s unbelievable again that we’re sitting here talking about this topic. I’ll probably get in the trouble for saying this, but I’ll say it anyway. I’ve been around a long time, and Bill France used to say being pissed off was not a plan. What I saw at Martinsville pissed me off. And it pissed everyone off at NASCAR because we all know better, and we know what happened.
“So, we do have rules in the rule book where we can address it, and we did. We had a call with our OEMs where we were very clear in what our intentions are going forward. Do we have a rule right now where we can do something? We don’t. Will we have a rule next season? 1,000 percent and they’re aware of that and they’re aware of if anything happens this weekend, which it won’t, but we will react.”
Logano how explained what that rection would have been like on Sunday.
“They did threaten us before the race that if anyone manipulates the race somehow, you are not racing in the Daytona 500 next year,” Logano said. “Is that a threat? Is that real? We’ll know if something happened. I didn’t see anything happen (Sunday) but this playoff system is a big piece of it and who do you answer to? That’s the question you have to ask, who do you answer to?
“Whoever signed your paycheck is who you answer to. If Chevy or Ford or Toyota are stroking these big checks and say, ‘Hey, it’s very important to have our car in the Championship Four and we fund a lot of your stuff. You better do the right thing,’ what are you going to do? You’re back up against the wall and it backs NASCAR up against the wall. I don’t know how to fix it.”
