Joey Logano said he doesn’t know what to do with Ty Gibbs after their continuing conflict carried into last weekend’s Clash and led to a heated discussion between the two in the garage area.
Logano discussed his situation with Gibbs on Tuesday morning on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
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The history between Logano and Gibbs dates back to last year and got to a point where Logano turned Gibbs in the Martinsville playoff race last fall. Logano and Gibbs later talked but their issues resurfaced at the Clash.
They lined up next to each other on the front row for five restarts in last weekend’s exhibition race at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
The last time they restarted on the front row together came with 10 laps to go. Gibbs restarted on the inside line and Logano was on the outside. Logano and Gibbs ran close to each other. They made contact in Turns 1 and 2. Logano moved up the track and was hit from behind by teammate Ryan Blaney. Logano fell to sixth before finishing fourth.
“Here’s the story,” Logano began on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “Ty and I have raced pretty hard with each other since last year, and we’ve tried to have a talk to where ‘OK, we’re going to start at zero.’ Then three weeks in a row where he was completely using me up.
“I had enough, right. You can only poke the bear so many times before the bear bites. I had enough at Martinsville, so I showed him I had enough.”
Logano turned Gibbs in Turn 3 in the Martinsville playoff race.
“He called me afterwards, which I respected that,” Logano said of Gibbs. “We had a conversation, came to my place, and we talked for about 30 minutes. I thought, ‘Man, that was pretty cool. He was very humble. We had a good conversation about it.
“I thought I’ve been through a lot of this stuff before when I was like him, right? I can see a lot of myself in Ty. I get a lot of it. I thought, ‘Man, if I talked to Kevin (Harvick) that way or I talked to Tony (Stewart) in that way, gosh that would have been great, like to have had that.’
“So, I was open … I’ve been through this before. Let me see if I can help the situation out. So we left and we shook hands and ‘OK, here is how we’re going to do it, we’re going to respect each other on the racetrack, we’re going to respect each other.
“And only for the first opportunity for us to race each other since that conversation to get completely used up on the restart. I get it, 10 laps to go in the Clash and we’re going to be aggressive with each other, but to completely use me up into the fence, not going to be OK with me.
“So, obviously, I’m mad about that. At that point, I wanted to make sure he knew that I was pretty upset about that and that’s not acceptable.
“Now, where do we go from here? I don’t know. I don’t know. We had a conversation, he said all the right things. His words don’t mean nothing to me anymore, so I’m not going to to talk to him. But I don’t really know the next to do. … I’m at a loss at this point.”
Logano went on to say about Gibbs: “The kid’s talented. He’s fast. I’m going to have to race to the end of my career. He’s not getting fired. I know that. He’s good.
“I don’t know how to handle it from here. I mean, we can get into a back-and-forth match. I don’t really want to do that, but I’m open to do it. But I don’t know what the next step is to earn respect of the kid.”
Logano finished fourth in the Clash. Gibbs was 18th after he was spun late in the race.
Logano was asked a listener question on “The Morning Drive” about why he got so upset for what was an exhibition race.
“To me, it’s not about an exhibition race or the Daytona 500 or a points race, whatever it is,” Logano said on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “That stuff carries from race to race. It’s the same people. There’s a fair amount of money sitting out there to win for your team. There’s a big old trophy and there’s a cool stat saying you won the Clash. All that is still there. I don’t think anybody races any differently considering what kind of race it is. It seems like everyone just kind of brings their same self to every race these days.”
Asked how he teaches Gibbs a lesson, Logano said: “I don’t know the answer right now. I’ve thought about a lot of it. I want to work it out. I’m being clear. I don’t want to be in a pissing match with this guy. But I’m also not going to get pushed around.
“I’m sure he’s saying the same thing, he’s not getting pushed around, but he’s doing the pushing right now. And eventually, you get bit back. It’s how our sport works. It’s self-policing. It’s an eye for an eye. That’s how it works.”