NASCAR officials have or plan to have conversations with a few Cup drivers after incidents this past weekend at Pocono Raceway.
Elton Sawyer, NASCAR senior vice president of competition, said Tuesday on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio’s “The Morning Drive” that series officials planned to talk with Austin Dillon, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Preece and Corey LaJoie but none are expected to be penalized.
Sawyer said he talked Monday with Joey Logano about Logano’s frustrations with not being towed immediately after his car had flat tires and couldn’t move at Pocono.
Sawyer also said that series officials saw nothing wrong with how Denny Hamlin raced Kyle Larson for the lead with seven laps to go and with Larson door-slamming Hamlin’s car under a caution after their incident.
Hamlin went on to win the race. Larson finished 20th.
Sawyer explained how series officials viewed the duel: “We have two of the greatest race car drivers that we’ve probably seen in the history of our sport behind the 11 and the 5 steering wheels. They’re future Hall of Famers, and we’re seven laps to go and they’re both doing everything they can to win the race.
“So when you come up short on that, for whatever reason, if you feel like you’ve been done wrong, you’re going to be to upset. You’re going to want to show your displeasure. … Those guys are professionals. I feel like they will handle that (moving forward) appropriately. If we feel like we need to get involved more, we will, but at this time I don’t see anything we need to do on our side.”
Sawyer said series officials plan to talk to Dillon and Reddick after their contact sent Dillon into the SAFER barrier. After exiting his car, Dillon threw his helmet at Reddick’s car but missed.
“When you get down to the end of the race and you’re in position to have a strong finish, totally understand the emotion, didn’t see anything there (that warranted a penalty),” Sawyer told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “We plan to have a conversation with both of those guys to make sure we’re in a good headspace as we go into Richmond. We’ve said it before … our drivers get very emotional, which is part of what is the draw for our fans.”
Sawyer said officials also will talk with Preece and LaJoie. Preece spun on the penultimate lap after contact with LaJoie’s car. After the race, Preece went to LaJoie’s car on pit road and yelled at him before he was pulled away from the car.
After the race, @RyanPreece_ had words for @CoreyLaJoie. pic.twitter.com/5Uju1MKvav
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 23, 2023
Logano expressed his displeasure Sunday with how long it took to tow his car after it hit the SAFER barrier and had flat tires. Sawyer said he had a “great conversation” Monday with Logano about the matter and what can be done moving forward.
While Logano suggested having a safety vehicle with extra tires that could be put on a car to allow it to leave an accident scene, Sawyer noted complications to such a plan.
“As far as putting tires, a jack and electric impact (gun) in the back of a chase vehicle and get them to the incident, I’m not saying that’s on the table, but it’s pretty far down the priority list,” Sawyer told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
“Just fast forward to a superspeedway where we potentially could have multiple vehicles sitting there with four flat tires. What are we going to do, pull out the points standings and say go get the point leader first? Those things are just not practical in a way during the event to be able to recover those vehicles. Our team at the R&D Center is wide open to figure out next steps on that.”
