RacingNation.com
Home / NASCAR / Winning The ‘Right Way’

Winning The ‘Right Way’

Charlotte, NC (June 11th, 2012) – Winning the ‘right way.’

It’s a phrase you hear a lot in sports today. Countless coaches and players use the term in post-game interviews to describe the dedication, hard work and fair play that went into their team’s victory.

Sunday, Joey Logano got two out of three right.

Logano and his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team had what could be described as almost a perfect weekend.

Almost.

Rocket fast in practice, Logano blasted his way to the pole position and then led 48 laps en route to winning Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Pocono Raceway. About the only mistake Logano made all weekend was to allow Mark Martin to get by him for the lead on the final restart of the day.

If you believe the rumor mill, Logano was in desperate need of a Cup Series win.

Referred to as ‘Sliced Bread’ when he entered the top NASCAR ranks as a smooth-driving teenager, Logano had scored just one Cup victory before Sunday, a 2009 accomplishment in a rain-shortened event at New Hampshire.

Now with garage wags suggesting he was perhaps more suited to the Nationwide Series where he wins on a regular basis, Logano may have silenced his most of the banter with a win Sunday.

But was the win scored the ‘right way?’

The answer here is no.

In case you missed it, Logano moved Martin out of the way with three laps to go after Martin had snookered him on the restart a few laps earlier. While it may have made for good theater or ‘drama’ as NASCAR likes to call it, Logano’s tactics were completely uncalled for.

Logano had already proved he had the best car all weekend long. He had also driven it beautifully throughout the race. With three laps remaining and his car rolling the corners better than any other out there – including Martin’s – Logano had plenty of time to motor by and win the ‘right way.’

Instead, he put the bumper to Martin moving him out of the way.

In an ironic twist of fate, Martin was Logano’s biggest champion when the young driver came to the sport. Now, searching for his first-ever victory at Pocono in a career that prior to Sunday had produced a fist-full of runner-up finishes, Martin appeared to be in position to at least race for the win over the final laps.

Instead, Logano repaid Martin with the proverbial ‘chrome horn.’

Afterward, Martin – always the consummate pro – was diplomatic and said all the right things about Logano in his post-race television interview. Inside, you could see he was seething and later, when the bright lights of television were gone, Martin admitted he would have repaid Logano if he were able to get to him in the final laps.

We get it that Logano needed a win. All NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers – not just Logano – are under considerable pressure to perform on several levels. On the track and in the marketplace, winning is the only sure thing to keep a driver in the seat for any length of time.

In recent weeks, Logano has given in to that pressure and has exhibited questionable driving and sportsmanship habits in Nationwide Series. On Sunday, he did the same in winning the Cup race at Pocono.

As a kid learning the sport of auto racing from my father, it was always stressed that if you couldn’t pass somebody cleanly to win a race, then it was your day to run second. You never ‘boogered’ anyone out of the way to get to Victory Lane. You were either good enough to drive around someone or you weren’t.

It was that simple.

On the cool down lap, Logano radioed his crew saying it great to win a race that went the distance and wasn’t rained shortened. In Logano’s mind, the asterisk next to his name and soggy New Hampshire win had finally been removed.

Maybe so, but for some of us who still believe in winning the ‘right way,’ the asterisk is still there – it’s just on Logano’s front bumper after Sunday’s win at Pocono.

What Da?

While Logano waited until the final laps to flex the front bumper on his Toyota Camry, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin wasted little time getting his licks in.

Hamlin, who has three career wins at Pocono, must have thought he needed to win Sunday’s race as he barreled into Turn 1 on the initial start nearly crashing the field in the process. As it was, Hamlin ruined the chances of outside pole sitter Carl Edwards who managed an 11th-place finish despite the damage his Ford received from Hamlin’s antics.

To say it was silly taking that kind of chance on the first lap – especially on a race that was scheduled to have a competition caution at Lap 20 – is an understatement.

Last Call

For years, Pocono was one of the last outposts of NASCAR that anyone wanted to race at.

A timeworn track, substandard garage and safety facilities made competing at the Pennsylvania tri-oval little or no fun. That’s changed quite a bit with multiple improvements in recent years.

Safer, better and faster than ever before, Pocono is now representative of what NASCAR is these days.

Pocono probably still isn’t going to be listed at the top of too many ‘favorite’ lists, but it’s much better than it used to be and you have to give the Mattiolli family props for the improvements.

Share Button