Truex has plans to use the incident with Joey Logano to his advantage this weekend
There appears to be some miscommunication between the NASCAR championship contenders
Two weeks ago, Joey Logano put the bumper to Martin Truex Jr for the win at Martinsville Speedway. Now, both of them have made it to the Championship 4 round. A Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion will be crowned this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
After the race at Martinsville, Truex gave Logano a call. The dialogue featured several expletives. But, the drivers hang up the phone knowing where each driver stood in the situation.
Have you hit the reset button now that you and Joey Logano are both battling for a championship?
“I’m not approaching this race any differently because of that. I don’t know any other way to answer it,” Truex said.
“But, I still remember what happened. And I’ll use that to my advantage this weekend.”
Do you race the #22 different because of that?
“Absolutely.”
What would you do to win this championship?
“It depends on who it is.”
Truex explained in regards to Joey Logano, “I have a free pass, he already told me that. Told me it’s fair game, so here we go.”
Joey Logano on the ‘free pass’
Joey Logano recalls the conversation between the two drivers slightly differently.
“I didn’t tell him that,” Logano said with a laugh when asked if Truex had a free pass to knock him out of the lead.
“I said, ‘Hey, I expect to get raced the way I race people and I’m a hard racer and I expect to get raced hard.’ ”
“I’ve said it before, we didn’t crash each other, I didn’t crash him. I moved him up enough to have a drag race. — There’s so much on the line in these situations and if you don’t make a move like that, you’re going to go back to your race team and I know if I worked on that car, I’d be mad.
Logano concluded, “I’d say, ‘Why didn’t you at least try to win?’ ”
Truex on intermediate tracks
Truex ran 5th at Las Vegas and 9th at Texas. Those two tracks aren’t Homestead-Miami Speedway but they have similar characteristics to this weekends event.
How’s your mile and a half program?
“I would say, it’s probably not lights out like it was last year,” Truex stated. “Vegas, we found it. We had that race. We weren’t good on those short runs and the race didn’t play into our hands.”
“It’s been harder to hit it this year, there’s no question. If I would to compare this year to last year. Last year, we were lights out. The #4 car, if they could hit it, they could beat us.”
“This year, the #4 car has been lights out. If we hit it, we can beat them. It’s been harder to consistently hit that target this year.”
“I feel good about this weekend. But, it’s going to be tough, there’s no question. That’s the thing about racing. It’s always changing.”
More
Joey Logano says he’s the favorite to win the NASCAR championship
Martin Truex Jr and Joey Logano comment after the bump and run at Martinsville Speedway (Video)
Truex reached out to Logano on Sunday night after the race at Martinsville
Links
Joey Logano | Martin Truex Jr | Homestead-Miami Speedway | NASCAR
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