Nationwide Post Race Quotes From Robby about Incident

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Joey Logano and Robby Gordon got into beating and banging on the track during the Zippo 200 on Saturday, resulting in a flat tire for both of them, then more contact and some hard feelings following the Nationwide Series race at Watkins Glen International.

The 19-year-old Logano, who eventually spun and hit the wall to finish 33rd, voiced his displeasure afterward with Gordon.

“He decided to wreck me under caution, which is not real cool, I think,” said the Joe Gibbs Racing driver. “It’s a pretty raw deal to race someone pretty stupid. You can’t fix stupid. It’s forever. … I got caught with an idiot.”

Gordon’s response?

“Whatever,” said the veteran driver/owner. “I’m not too worried about what Joey Logano thinks to be honest with you. The second time [when he wrecked] he got into somebody else. I don’t think he passed anybody without running into them first. That’s what he did to me. So it is what it is. He’s not going to run into me and think he’s going to go on by because he knocked me sideways. That’s just not the way it goes.”

It is unlikely Gordon and Logano will forget the incident soon.

“He cut down my left-front tire earlier and we got into a grudge match after that,” Logano said. “It was back-and-forth and back-and-forth into each other. Eventually a caution came out and he put me into the fence and my car went up in flames.

“That was real nice. You remember that stuff. Eventually it’s going to turn around and bite him because he races everyone the same way just like that. I don’t know if this is the one place he thinks he can run good so he beat the hell out of everybody. You just remember that. Eventually everyone is going to start doing that back to him. What goes around comes around.”

Gordon said Logano hit him first to start the exchange.

“He hit me first, so it all started with him making contact with my back bumper in Turn 11,” Gordon said. “That’s where it all started. If he can learn to pass me clean, I’m cool with it. But if he’s going to run into me, he’s going to get hit back. It’s just plain and simple.”

Neither driver competes in the Nationwide series full time. It was Gordon’s first start of the season in the series as he hoped to score a win on a road course where he has won in the Cup series.

Gordon had a long day after starting third. He got hit from behind and then into the back of Greg Biffle, who then spun Gordon. Even with front-end damage to his car – and even after heavy cosmetic damage after the tire issue that followed the first Logano incident – Gordon was running fast lap times. He had to settle for 14th.

“Until Logano got into me and got flat tires for both of us, we were hanging in there in eighth place,” Gordon said. “I got really, really aero tight with the hood being [bowed] up [from damage] like it was. All in all, we had a decent day.”

From Bob Pockrass, Scene Daily

UPDATE: Statement From Robby Gordon

"After reviewing the comments by Logano and the replay of the day's events, I felt that it was necessary to explain what happened during yesterday's race from my prospective.

This whole turn of events started with Joey running into the back of my No. 55 in Turn 10. He then knocked me sideways in Turn 11. To show him my displeasure, I ran him down towards the inside wall on the front straight. I tried to do a crossover move in Turn 1 to get back by him; however, I missed judged a little resulting in both of us getting flat tires.

During the final incident that ended Joey's day, we were racing for the lucky dog position. We both had good cars and were just trying to improve our finishing position for the day. After the bus stop chicane, Joey wrecked the No. 34 of Tony Raines. This contact allowed me to get underneath him in Turn 9. He saw that I was going to pass him for the Lucky Dog position, so he tried to block me. This maneuver resulted in his right rear tire connecting with my left front. From there, I felt he would be okay because he was in the section where the outer loop was. Rather than going down the inner loop, he decided to cut across the grass, hitting the tire barrier.

At the end of the day I'm just glad Joey is okay. This is a highly competitive sport, and we are all very passionate when we are on the track. Tempers have a tendency to flare, but hopefully in the future we will both race each other cleaner.

Under my own doing, I did stop by the NASCAR hauler this morning to converse with them about yesterday. There will be no repercussions from yesterday' events," commented Robby Gordon.

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If you take emotions out of this, you have 43 androids driving around in a circle. Guess I'm just tired of this politically correct, sponsor kissing breed of racing. Call me an old timer, but rubbin' is racin'.
gee RG has been driving exactly like Dale Ernhart sr (who most people thing was a racing god) dale was noted for bunp passing and puting a fender into everyone to pass them and if you were to bump the "redneck jesus SR" he would try to put you over the wall

come on people lets not have a doubble standard
First, most people didn't think he was a racing god until after he was dead. Most north of the Carolinas thought he was the a$$h@!& of redneck racing.
Second, how did he die? Trying to use his car to slow down Sterling.
Besides that, I don't think Dale wouldn't be commending Robby for trashing his cars week in week out.
Thinking back to Dale Earnhardt Sr. and comparing him to Robby Gordon.

The difference between Robby and Dale Earnhardt Sr. "besides 7 Championships and 80 more wins" is , when someone hit Dale he hit him back hard enough to let them know F- off!

If they hit him again he put them in the grass BUT NEVER at the expense of his car. Also , If Dale had a really good car he would just make a mental note of who did what to him and get him back 2-3 races later that way it doesn't look so obvious as to why even though we all know why anyways.

He never announced over the radio what he was going to do. "That's just pts. and fine money suicide"

If Dale Sr. were around today , he would more than likely grab Robby by his neck and tell him to KNOCK IT OFF ALREADY! Save your cars if you want to finish a race. A race on the lead lap. Hit them but be smart about it. Don't do it in such a way that you will have to come down pit road and fix your hit. Don't hit them enough times to get Nascar's attention or the media's. You do that , you run the risk of getting a penalty etc.....

Joey Logano , I would bet that after he got back to his hauler both Zippy and Gibbs Sr. or Jr. both told him that Robby WILL hit him back if he hits him. EVERYTIME! They also probably told him that 41 other drivers would just hit him back and race on. But not Robby. Robby will use up his whole car just to prove a point so leave him alone if you want to finish a race. Let today be a learning lesson.

Dale Jr. and Vickers took Robby out at Daytona. But they also took several OTHER drivers out too and where are they in the points right now? EXAMPLE - Jimmie Johnson was in that wreck and he has had other problems along the way too but where is he now in the points? He sits in 2nd. because he doesn't over drive his car when it's not to his liking , his crew chief Chad talks to him , keeps him calm , in line , keeps him focussed on the big picture , finishing the race on the lead lap , trying to finish the race as high up in positions as possibe and the bigger picture , "THE CHASE" and the even bigger picture THE CHAMPIONSHIP. It also helps too when your spotters tell you that the person you are hitting did not do anything to you too.

Robby is a God when it comes to Off Road. If only he applied that dedication and discipline to Nascar.
A voice of reason. Too bad we can't be considered true fans for not having our blinders on.
Reply by RabidRGfan 3 hours ago

You gotta be shitting yourself about the driver of the 3 car, that guy would spend an entire race trying to catch someone who put him out of shape on the track." Did he destroy his car while doing it? "
Robby is Robby, f-ing get over it already. " Can you get over the Cup cars not racing in the rain? "PS, your little chat here isnt going to change his mind. (I f-ing hope not) Refresh everyones memory here Rabid

Weren't you the one that went off on a tangent about the Cup cars not racing in the rain?
Do you think that your little tangent about rain tires is going to change NASCAR'S mind.

Hummer Time
Well, I am about over my funk from the WG NW race - after being super hyped up about Robby's chances there, so I ready to move onto the next race and hope for the best. ;-)) Like one of the announcers said during the race - if you see Robby on your back bumper you better move out of the way - Joey learned a valuable lesson last week.
Tale of two races for Logano in Watkins Glen's learning curve

By Joey Logano, special for USA TODAY
Editor's note: Joey Logano will document his rookie season in NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series in an exclusive online driver diary for USA TODAY:
My weekend at Watkins Glen International actually was fun. We learned a lot. We got a lot better in both cars, and that was a big plus. We figured out a lot of little things that could help, and that was cool. We had fast race cars on both sides. Our Nationwide car was really good. The Cup car was pretty decent, too. But one race went OK, and one went not so well.


TEAM REPORTS: NASCAR news and notes
We unloaded fifth quick with the No. 20 GameStop Toyota in the Nationwide Series. I qualified sixth and thought we were going to be fine. We started off too loose in the race and worked on the car. We got a pit road penalty and had to come back and lost a lot of track position and time to the leaders. We got through that part. We were working our way back and then just got in some bad stuff with Robby Gordon.

I got underneath him going into Turn 11, which is the last right-hander on the course. I don't think he knew I was there, and he came down across my nose in kind of a racing incident. We went down the straightaway, and he ran me down to the bottom. I came back up, and we got in a pissing match after that. Whatever.

It ended up with me in the fence. I didn't even know the car was on fire, so the crash wasn't that big of a deal. But looking back at it, it's dangerous to be out there with people trying to wreck you. But whatever.

I had some choice words to say about Robby after visiting the care center. I just said what came to mind and went with it. I talked to Robby before the Sprint Cup race Monday. We just talked about what had happened and tried to figure out why. That was about it. Am I comfortable with racing against him in the future? We'll see. You never know. Sometimes things sound good on paper, and you just never know. I hadn't had any trouble with Robby before.

An incident like that isn't part of racing. You don't want something like that to happen. You don't want to get in a grudge match with somebody. That's bad for both parties. You try to put it all behind you. Wrecking cars doesn't help anybody. It hurts our day, and it hurts their day. You have to be smart about it. That's the main deal.

I think we've earned a lot of respect among my peers in Cup this year. Even after what happened Saturday, the number of drivers who came up to me and supported me was pretty cool. A lot of them did because everyone saw what happened and knew what went down.

That's when you realize how much respect you've really gotten this year. That was pretty neat if you want to look at the good side. That doesn't fix a tore-up race car, but I guess it's the good side.

There were a couple of things we could have worked on that once the race started I wish I'd paid more attention to, but overall, we had real good race cars.

On the Cup side, the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota unloaded about 20th, and that's where we were most of the weekend. I screwed up qualifying and took the 35th starting spot. I just overdrove it. Running the Nationwide car really hurt me a lot as far as where to lift off the accelerator, and I overdrove into the corner and didn't stay on the track that well. I guess it hurt running both cars. I didn't think it would at a road course, but the cars are so different, and I didn't know what to expect at this particular track the first time in Cup.

Monday's race went OK. We had to start at the back and battled track position all day. I screwed up once and wheel-hopped the car into a spin. Then we fought back and got caught in big wreck when Sam Hornish Jr. went off and came back across the track. I got in the fence a little trying to avoid that, which upset a few things on the car. We battled back to finish 16th. Our lap times were six-tenths of a second slower by the end of the race. We had a fast car better than that before I hit the wall.

It's cool to know I went to both of these road courses and ran well. We had things happen that's disappointing, but we proved we can be fast at them, and that's pretty cool. I wasn't that worried about Sonoma, but I was about Watkins Glen.

The outlook at Michigan is like every other week. We just will go for it and see what we can do. I think we'll have an all right weekend.

Because of the postponed race, this was a short week, and I didn't have much time to hang around at home. On Wednesday afternoon, I went to the Carowinds amusement park outside of Charlotte, to watch my older sister, Danielle, in its "Endless Summer on Ice" show. She skates several times a week and enjoys it.

I can't tell you how many times I've been to ice rinks and watched my sister practice when I was younger. Every day after school, I'd go to the ice rink and watch her while doing my homework. It's nice to support the family that way.

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