NASCAR put Joey Logano in timeout for 50 minutes after inspection failure
The Team Penske #22 machine failed pre-qualifying inspection, 4 times. As a result, Joey Logano never made it to the track in qualifying. He will start last, 39th on Sunday.
However, that penalty wasn’t big enough in the eyes of the sanctioning body. They have just introduced a new penalty, a timeout for the duration of the session.
In practice, NASCAR told Joey Logano to suit up and sit in his car. As the field drove by to hit the track for practice, Joey Logano would have to watch.
For the entire session, Joey Logano was forced to sit in his car on pit road. Knowing full well he wouldn’t be allowed on track during the session. During his time in jail, Logano had time to prepare a statement.
“I had time for a lot of thoughts in there,” Logano said. “Mainly that it’s a total joke. I don’t know why it has to be on pit road. There’s no reason to sit out there. It’s dumb.”
“I just think it makes our sport look dumb,” Logano stated. “I think we can accomplish the same thing in a more professional manner.”
The offender wasn’t the only one who had thoughts on the jail time. Fellow competitor Dale Earnhardt Jr saw him sitting there and he had some thoughts as well.
Earnhardt: “I’ve no issue with making him miss practice. Him sitting on pit road with what amounts to wearing a dunce hat is highly unnecessary,” Earnhardt tweeted .
Related: Dale Earnhardt Jr comments on burnouts
NASCAR: Kurt Culbert is the managing director of integrated marketing and communications. He responded to Earnhardt via Twitter, “Don’t do the crime if you can’t pay the fine. Simple logic here. EVERYONE knows the rules on this one.”
“But the “hold” part of the practice hold is to be held on pit road. That’s intended to be part of the infraction (as is missing track time),” Culbert said via Twitter.
Joey Logano felt like he was in jail. His wife came over to the window as he sat on pit road.
“She put her hand on the window net and I put my hand on the other side and she was laughing because it was like we were in jail,” Logano laughed. “I said, ‘It’s kind of like that, actually.”
Joey Logano posted the photos to twitter. He called it “family visitation.”
Links
Joey Logano
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Dale Earnhardt Jr
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