Martin Truex Jr reached out to Joey Logano after the bump and run at Martinsville Speedway

Joey Logano and Martin Truex Jr comment on the phone conversation after the bump and run at Martinsville Speedway

On Sunday, Joey Logano put the bumper to Martin Truex Jr on lap 500 of 500 at Martinsville Speedway. The bump in the final corner sent Truex Jr up the hill. The two banged fenders all the way to the finish line.

After the race, Logano is heading to the championship race. Truex, he was pissed.

On Sunday night after Martinsville, Martin Truex Jr reached out to Joey Logano. That’s not an uncommon thing for drivers to reach out. But, it’s not usually the recipient of the bump-n-run to initiate the conversation.

Watch the video of the final laps at Martinsville Speedway here.

Dustin Long: Were you surprised he texted you?

“I can’t say I was surprised that he texted me,” Joey Logano stated from the media center at Texas Motor Speedway.

“I was actually kinda glad he did. It kinda broke the ice. I was planning on waiting a couple days to let things settle.”

“It kinda got a lot of things out of the way there. We both know where we stand. We know where it’s at.”

“It is what it is and we move on.”

On Friday morning at Texas Motor Speedway, Joey Logano and AAA Insurance hosted an event. The event was to demo how the combination of texting and driving, doesn’t work.

“I was actually driving,” Logano refers to when he got the text from Truex on Sunday night. “So, I had to wait until I got home. It wouldn’t make any sense if the AAA driver texted on the way home. That would be really bad.”

Martin Truex Jr - Monster Energy Girl
SPARTA, KY – JULY 14: Martin Truex Jr., driver of the #78 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota, poses with the winner’s decal in Victory Lane after winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Quaker State 400 presented by Walmart at Kentucky Speedway on July 14, 2018 in Sparta, Kentucky. (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images)

Truex on why he reached out to Logano

“Things calm down. You think about it a little bit. I didn’t expect to hear from him. So, I wanted to tell him how I felt,” Martin Truex Jr said from Texas Motor Speedway.

“I wanted to get his point of view. I wanted to get what he was thinking, the way he thought about it and now I know.”

The context of the phone call was slightly different than the post-race interviews at Martinsville Speedway. Though, Truex stated the phone call featured a cuss word or two.

Logano once lost the chance at a championship after not calling a driver. He wrecked Matt Kenseth at Kansas Speedway. He didn’t call. Instead, he was put in the fence a few weeks later while leading at Martinsville Speedway.

Related: Logano made a call to Kyle Busch after Las Vegas

Related: Phone call to Matt Kenseth might have saved the championship hopes for Joey Logano

Is everything cool with you and Martin?

“Time will tell,” Logano continued. “He was a little frustrated and that’s part of it.”

“But, I also think, it’s short track racing. There’s all that on the line at that point. I think we both kinda understand that.”

“There’s so much on the line. That’s kinda what happens, sometime.”

Clint Bowyer at Texas Motor Speedway
FORT WORTH, TX – NOVEMBER 02: Clint Bowyer, driver of the #14 Rush Truck Centers/Mobil Delvac 1 Ford, walks through the garage area during practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on November 2, 2018 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Josh Hedges/Getty Images)

Clint Bowyer was asked about if he would pull the same move Logano did at Martinsville. He said, “My gosh, yes. And so would Martin Truex Jr.”

Mark Garrow: Has that been the general consensus of the other competitors that have reached out to you this week?

“The majority of them have supported the move,” Logano states.

“It’s the position that our sport puts you in. You’re in the playoffs. You have the opportunity to lock yourself into the final championship four.”

“You don’t know what going to happen in the next two races. It’s right there. It’s Martinsville, it’s classic short track racing that we’ve seen a hundred times.”

“Like I said after the race, some fans love it. And some fans don’t. Either way, you’re going to have plenty of questions afterwards.”

“If you don’t do it. It’s, ‘Why didn’t you do it?’ If you do it, half are going to be happy and half aren’t. I guess, I’m not here to make everybody happy. I’m here to do my job for my race team.”

“We led 300 laps. If you don’t try to win the race… I would expect them to be very disappointed in me as a driver for them.”

“It was the classic bump and run. There was no crashing. There was no cars backed into the wall. It was just a little bump up. Just enough to get there. We had a classic drag race and a cool finish for everybody.”

After the race at Martinsville, Truex gave a light warning shot to the #22 driver. He’s since backed off from that after cooling off a bit. But, Logano isn’t thinking about payback from Martin Truex Jr.

“The most important thing right now is to look out the windshield,” Logano said in the opening round of practice at Texas Motor Speedway.

More

Dale Earnhardt Jr compares Martin Truex Jr to Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt

Crew chiefs for Martin Truex Jr and Joey Logano exchanged words after the race at Martinsville Speedway

Denny Hamlin declares short tracks as the fix for NASCAR

NASCAR reacts to the finish between Logano and Truex at Martinsville Speedway

Martin Truex Jr called the move by Joey Logano a ‘cheap shot’; Roger Penske disagrees

NASCAR community reacts to the move by Joey Logano

Joey Logano and Martin Truex Jr comment after the race at Martinsville Speedway

Martinsville Speedway: Race Results (October 28, 2018)

Truex is tired of getting run over by his fellow NASCAR competitors

Jimmie Johnson had to get special permission from NASCAR to pull the prank on Furniture Row Racing

Links

Joey Logano | Martin Truex Jr | Martinsville Speedway | NASCAR

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