While Joey Logano doesn’t like the way things went between Ty Gibbs and Sam Mayer, he understands the emotions involved during races.
Frustrated with Mayer during their clash during the Xfinity Series race at Martinsville, Gibbs, 19, tried to spin Mayer on the cool-down lap and then went to confront him after the race. After some shoves, Gibbs hit Mayer at least three times.
It could be the immaturity of Gibbs who is very young, but many experienced drivers are also susceptible to such acts. 31-year-old Logano has experienced such fights in his career, but after years of racing, he knows that it is wise to learn and move on from such incidents.
“Do I agree with the way it went down? No, I don’t,” Logano said. “Have I done that type of thing before? Yeah, I have. Am I proud of it? No, not at all. But I learned from it at least.”
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Logano, who has been racing at the NASCAR national series competition at the age of 18, shared some tips on how to control emotions during such intense moments.
“I guess taking a deep breath and understanding the big picture and handling things correctly is probably the way to go. But we’ve all done dumb things,” he said. “It’s just as a driver, it’s just going to be out there in the open.
“Two younger guys, ambitious to win and I wouldn’t say what happened on the race track was wrong, but I’d say what happened after was probably not the right direction.”
What Gibbs did was absolutely irrational and immature, and he cannot let emotions take the better of him on occasions like that. But as Logano said, it is an important learning opportunity in this point of his career.
NASCAR is still reviewing the incident and will announce the penalties later this week.