Ryan Newman vs. Joey Logano

I was starting to freak out as I read in numerous places that Ryan Newman should let Joey Logano have it at Bristol. The posts referred to the Michigan race when Logano first, got loose and hit Newman's car causing him to spin out, and then second, Logano was overly critical of Newman for racing too hard.

I'm a little more comfortable now as I see that both Newman and Logano are racing in the Nationwide series at Bristol. That would be the place for a little payback. Normally, I wouldn't condone such a thing, but if I was Newman, I'd want to provide Joey a little racing lesson. 

For some reason though, I don't see this happening either. I think Newman is bigger than that. He just won the Whelen Mod race. I doubt he is thinking about payback. Then again, if the opportunity presents itself, I say, what the heck!

It is called racing, Joey

While it was obviously hot inside the race car, at Sunday's Michigan race, it may have been a little hotter once Ryan Newman got out of the car. Newman went looking for Joey Logano, who finished 10th, at Newman's expense. Newman finished 23rd, despite having a good race car that ran laps as quick as the leaders for most of the race.

When it was all over though, there was an altercation between the two. Instead of telling Newman he was sorry about causing him to spin, Logano got an attitude. ESPN reporters caught up with Logano as he proceeded to bash Newman for not giving him some slack. What wasn't shown on camera was visible this video from Fox Sports.

Clearly, Logano crossed the line as he told Newman, "Give someone an inch, man."

To that, Newman responded, "No." It escalated from there.

Hello Joey, don't you get what you are doing at the race track? It is called racing. It is not a Sunday afternoon drive.

Newman had every right to be ticked off. Logano clearly got into him and spun him, nearly ruining his day.

Newman had so much more to lose than Logano, which Joey failed to take into account, apparently. Newman, is 14th in points and was contending for a Chase (for the championship) berth; the top 12 in points. It looked early on like he had a good shot to achieve it too, had it not been for Logano ruining his day. Logano had nothing to lose, as he is in 21st place, with no chance to race his way into the chase. Newman had so much more to lose.

I'm sure that if Logano had simply admitted that his car got loose and he didn't mean to hit Newman's race car, all would have been forgotten. But that isn't what Logano did.

Not only was Logano at fault for the incident on the track, according to the NASCAR video, but he had the audacity to call Newman out for his driving style. Logano got into Newman's face complaining that he isn't the only one to mention how Newman makes it hard to pass.

Well, Duh Joey! Newman gets paid to race. He gets points for passing people. He would have gotten three more points for passing you, which he did until you hit him. What don't you get?

Shhhh! More on secret fines

I have just spent the morning engaged in a tedious discussion about Ryan Newman and Denny Hamlin and NASCAR's secret fines against them for speaking their minds.

My view was pro-driver and free speech. The woman who authored the opinion piece took the pro-NASCAR view. The story was entitled NASCAR will never win with fans; proof in driver fines backlash. She defended NASCAR's actions with the same voracity that one would expect from NASCAR brass.

Her article was well written, but she accused fans of wearing rose-colored glasses even as she looked through her own pair. Admittedly many of the comments agreed with her defending NASCAR's actions. The ones that were not quite so generous were met with a near immediate response by the writer defending her position and theirs.

The writer was accused of kissing-up to NASCAR. I can't disagree. Up to 64 comments later, I've spoken my peace.

I hope NASCAR hires her to do public relations work for them.