Joey Logano Slams Chipper Jones After Talladega Meltdown: 'Maybe He's Just Trying to Stay Relevant'

Newsweek

29-04-2025

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano has retaliated after comments from Baseball Hall of Famer Chipper Jones. This comes after a number of social media posts from the latter.
Starting after the Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway last weekend, the No. 22 Ford driver faced Bubba Wallace during the latter stages of Stage 2 alongside his Team Penske teammate Austin Cindric. Cindric managed to lose the Stage win to Wallace, leading to an irate call over the radio.
"Way to go, Austin. Way to go, dumb (expletive). Way to (expletive) go. What a stupid (expletive). He just handed it to him. Gave a Toyota a stage win. Nice job. Way to go. What a (expletive)," Logano shouted through his microphone.
To make matters worse, after finishing fifth in the race, Logano was disqualified after his car failed its post-race inspection. Cindric, on the other hand, finished his race weekend in first place.
Joey Logano, driver of the #22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, looks on during practice for the NASCAR Cup Series Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway on April 05, 2025 in Darlington, South Carolina.
Joey Logano, driver of the #22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, looks on during practice for the NASCAR Cup Series Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway on April 05, 2025 in Darlington, South Carolina.A message from Jones followed:
"Congrats to Austin Cindric on his Talladega win," the post said. "Good teammates are hard to come by, boss! Remember that one of urs MFed u on national TV, when in actuality, u did everything possible to keep from wrecking.
"Hate to be #dueces in the 'team' meeting on Monday. Some people are 'hooray for our team as long as I'm the star,' as every team has them. Hendrick, RCR, JGR, Penske, etc. Sometimes karma is glorious. Enjoy this one! In case anyone is confused, lemme be clear... Joey Logano."
Logano originally responded to this post on-air.
"Has Chipper Jones ever driven a race car at Talladega? That would be my first question. I'm pretty certain he hasn't," he said. "That's like me saying something about baseball, I know nothing about baseball, that's like me saying something he did in baseball was wrong, it doesn't matter."
He continued:
"You care about what people say, their opinion, if you know them, and they know you. Everyone is going to have their opinion if you know them, and they know you, and they understand the scenario and the situation.
"Everyone is going to have their opinion on how they see things from the outside. Nobody else, Chipper Jones, no race fans, nobody is in the room when we come up with how we race at superspeedways, except the drivers, the team principals at Team Penske, and the crew chiefs, that is it.
"That's the only opinion that matters. The only one.
"So everybody can go off and talk about whatever they want; they don't know the situation, they don't know everything that goes into it, so it doesn't matter what they say. So that's probably why I never saw it, or really care about it, even after you told me about it.
"Chipper Jones seems like a cool dude, and he's done a lot, and he's a popular baseball player, but he's not a racecar driver, and I know he wasn't in the room with us when we set the way how things are supposed to go.
"You would think someone who has been in professional sports and has been in a meeting like that would probably take a step back and say, 'Man, there's probably more to the story than what there is', I'm surprised that it went that way, but maybe he's just bored."
The driver has now once again discussed the comments, this time on NBC Sports.
"I'm surprised that a professional athlete would act in that manner because he's been through it.
"I am very careful to form an opinion on an athlete by their emotions or the way they play the game because I know from being in that position, when there's that much on the line in a competitive environment, you act a certain way because you're out there to win. And then you got to be able to shut that off.
"I would have assumed him being the athlete he is and was, that he would understand that and not mouth off on social media like somebody that's never played the sport before. It's surprising to me. All I can think is he's trying to be relevant still or something like that."