Joey Logano wanted NASCAR to make a statement after Ross Chastain intentionally hit him at the Chicago Street Race. Instead, he got silence.
After a wild Grant Park 165 on the Chicago Street Course, the reigning Cup Series champion asked for Ross Chastain to be penalized for what he called an intentional wreck. Logano said Chastain admitted to turning him on purpose during a late-race incident. But days later, NASCAR said no penalties will be handed down.
The on-track chaos started on lap 63 when Kyle Larson clipped Chastain at Turn 1 and sent a multi-car pileup. Logano narrowly avoided big damage in that wreck, but a later run-in with Ross Chastain would set him off. Heading into Turn 2, Chastain hit the rear of Logano’s car and spun him around and collected several other drivers.
After the race, Joey Logano was clear. “He admitted he wrecked me,” Logano said. “If that’s not a penalty, I don’t know what is.”
NASCAR stays silent and controversy grows
Despite Logano’s public plea, NASCAR won’t be handing out any penalties. Reporter Bob Pockrass confirmed NASCAR reviewed several incidents from the Chicago weekend, including the Chastain-Logano incident, but decided not to take any action.
“NASCAR confirms no penalties from the Chicago weekend,” Pockrass wrote. “It had said it would review some of the incidents (Logano had asked for a fine for Ross Chastain for intentionally turning him).”
The move has raised concerns about consistency in NASCAR. The sanctioning body has imposed fines or suspensions in recent years on intentionally made moves, most notably, the 2015 suspension of Matt Kenseth and Austin Cindric’s recent fine at COTA or William Byron’s 2022 fine.
This lack of accountability is also supported by Denny Hamlin, who has also been fined before. “Inconsistency is the only consistency we have,” he said on his podcast Actions Detrimental.
Despite the contact, both Ross Chastain and Joey Logano finished the race. Chastain was 10th and Logano was 11th, just out of the top 10. Maybe that’s what did the trick.
So for now, no official punishment. But maybe NASCAR has just opened the door for more driver-on-track intentional payback down the road.
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