By Staff report | NASCAR.com
Kyle Busch, Joey Logano and their respective crews will not face punishment for their post-race actions following Sunday’s Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Following contact on the final lap while both were running in the top five, Busch’s No. 18 Toyota spun across the start/finish line to a 22nd-place finish. Busch and Logano were involved in a heated confrontation post-race on pit road. Crew members from the No. 18 (Busch’s Joe Gibbs Racing team) and the No. 22 (Logano’s Team Penske team) quickly got involved before being separated by NASCAR officials.
“After a full review of multiple videos and discussions with both competitors and their respective race teams, we felt Sunday’s post-race incident does not warrant any further action,” said Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer. “NASCAR was built on the racing that took place on the final lap by two drivers battling for position. The emotions of our athletes run high, and Kyle Busch and Joey Logano are two of the most passionate and competitive drivers in the sport. Both competitors are very clear on our expectations going forward and we will be meeting with them in person prior to practice on Friday in Phoenix.”
Logano told FS1’s “NASCAR Race Hub” on Tuesday that he and Busch have spoken since the incident.
“We’ve spoken,” Logano said. “Obviously, we didn’t speak much there, so I got a chance to call him up earlier today to be able to talk to him a little bit and at least tell my side of the story. We’re going to have two sides to the story like there is all the time, but really the bottom line is we’re two passionate race car drivers. We’re two of the best in the sport that are going to go for wins that are aggressive and we collided.”
TWO LUG NUT PENALTIES ASSESSED
NASCAR assessed lug nut penalties to two Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series teams on Wednesday. Both the race-winning No. 78 Furniture Row Racing team (for driver Martin Truex Jr.) and the No. 13 Germain Racing team (for driver Ty Dillon) were penalized for lug nuts not properly installed following Sunday’s Kobalt 400. In accordance with the NASCAR Rule Book, the crew chiefs (No. 78: Cole Pearn, No. 13: Robert “Bootie” Barker) for the teams were each fined $10,000.
