NASCAR told drivers this 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 Monday during an interview with the 2014 champion. Kevin Harvick on his YouTube show Happy Hour.
This decree was a response to the race manipulation debacle that erupted the day after the penultimate race of the season at Martinsville.
NASCAR suspended crew chiefs, crew chiefs and observers but ultimately chose not to directly penalize drivers… this time.
Steve O’Donnell, one of NASCAR’s top executives, didn’t mince his words on the subject last week.
“I would say what just happened at Martinsville before what we saw, one of the best runs I’ve seen in the playoffs,” O’Donnell said. “And it’s amazing again that we’re sitting here talking about this topic. I’m probably going to get in trouble for saying this, but I’ll say it anyway. I’ve been around a long time, and Bill France used to say that being pissed off wasn’t a plan. What I saw at Martinsville pissed me off. And it pissed off everyone at NASCAR because we all know better, and we know what happened.”
“So we have rules in the rule book that allow us to address that, and we did. We had a call with our OEMs where we were very clear about our intentions going forward. Do we have a rule now that we can do something? not, but we will react.
Logano explained what that reaction would have looked like on Sunday.
“They threatened us before the race that if anyone manipulated the race in any way, you wouldn’t race the Daytona 500 next year,” Logano said. “Is it a threat? Is it real? We’ll know if something happens. I didn’t see anything happening (Sunday) but this playoff system is a big part of it and who do you answer to? That’s the question you have to ask yourself, who do you answer to?
“You have to answer to whoever signed your paycheck. If Chevy or Ford or Toyota send you these big checks and say, ‘Hey, it’s a big deal to have our car in the Championship Four and we’re financing a lot of your stuff. You better do the right thing,’ what are you going to do? Your back is against the wall and that’s backing NASCAR against the wall. I don’t know how to fix it.”
