Joey Logano openly criticized his Team Penske teammate Austin Cindric following the intense NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega last weekend, where tensions spilled over after Cindric played a pivotal role in Logano’s loss of the stage victory. The incident, which occurred during the highly competitive run to the end of Stage 2, quickly gained attention, leading Logano to air his grievances on the team radio. The fallout continued when Baseball Hall of Famer Chipper Jones jumped into the conversation on social media, further fueling the conflict between Logano and Cindric as the motorsports world watched closely.
In the closing laps of the stage, Logano found himself leading the inside line with Bubba Wallace and Austin Cindric making moves in the outside lane. As momentum shifted, Wallace surged ahead, winning the stage, while Cindric, slotted behind Wallace, found himself in a difficult position. Immediately after, Logano launched into a heated, expletive-laden rant over his team’s radio, blaming Austin Cindric for the outcome and accusing him of handing the stage win to the Toyota camp. His frustration, raw and unfiltered, became an instant talking point not only among fans but within the racing community itself.
Among the voices weighing in was Chipper Jones, an Atlanta Braves legend who took to social media to offer his perspective on the brewing conflict. Jones, tagging both Cindric and Logano by name, congratulated Austin Cindric on his Talladega win and referenced the complexities of team dynamics in sports, drawing parallels between baseball and racing. “Good teammates are hard to come by, Boss! Remember that one of yours MF’ed you on national TV, when in all actuality, you did everything possible to keep from wrecking him,” Jones wrote. His posts implied support for Cindric’s actions, while subtly calling out Logano’s public criticism and suggesting that “karma is glorious.”
The controversy gained even more traction when Chipper Jones reposted a clip of Logano’s post-race interview and commented on the lack of public congratulations for Austin Cindric. Jones’s commentary fanned the flames of the already heated situation, intensifying scrutiny on Logano’s handling of the team dispute. It sparked debates about sportsmanship, communication, and the expectations of star competitors working together under the same banner.
When asked during a Tuesday morning appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio whether he had seen Chipper Jones’s comments, Logano made it clear that he was unbothered by the baseball icon’s opinion. “Has Chipper Jones ever driven a race car at Talladega? That would be my first question. I’m pretty certain he hasn’t,” Logano said, pointedly dismissing any outside criticism from those who lack firsthand NASCAR experience. He continued by drawing analogies to the differences between their professional worlds, remarking, “That’s like me saying something about baseball. I know nothing about baseball. That’s like me saying that he did something in baseball that was wrong. That doesn’t matter.”
Logano emphasized the importance of internal communication and experience in evaluating racing decisions. He stated, “You care about what people say, their opinion, if you really 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,” adding that only the drivers, team principals, and crew chiefs were part of the discussion around racing strategies for superspeedways. According to Logano, input from outsiders, including fans and former professional athletes, simply “doesn’t matter.”
In defending his position, Logano explained, “No one else, nobody, Chipper Jones, no race fans, nobody is in the room when we come up with how we’re going to race at superspeedways except the drivers, the team principals at Penske and the crew chiefs. That is it. That’s the only opinions that matter. The only ones.” As the interview progressed, he softened slightly regarding Jones’s stature in the sports world, acknowledging, “Chipper Jones, he seems like a cool dude, he’s done a lot, right? He’s a pretty popular, good baseball player, but he’s not a race car driver, and I know he wasn’t in the room with us when we set in place the way things are supposed to go.”
Even so, Logano noted his surprise that another professional athlete would make such public judgments without full context, stating, “You would think somebody that has been in professional sports and has been in meetings like that would probably take a step back and say, ‘Man, there’s probably more to the story here than what there is.’ I’m surprised it went that way. Maybe he was just bored. I don’t know what his situation is. I tell you I don’t care.”
Logano also gave insight into the team’s rules and expectations during superspeedway races, highlighting the importance of trust and teamwork. “You go superspeedway racing, there’s different rules in place for the teams. There’s the (manufacturer) rules, there’s the team rules and you try to put these all in place to try to give your cars the best chance to win. Everyone knows superspeedways you’ve got to work together,” he recounted. According to Logano, these carefully developed rules were created out of lessons from past failures, and when they are not followed, strong reactions are almost inevitable. “The rules that were set in place weren’t followed. That ticked me off quite a bit because I feel like I’ve always done the right thing and try really hard to do that.”
The emotional current of the incident was clear in Logano’s further reflections, as he described the tipping point of his anger: “The rules have been put in place because of things we have done wrong in the past. You don’t want to make the same mistakes over and over again. It wasn’t the first offense kind of situation. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back, and, yeah, I lit up pretty quickly because I care. I am into racing, I am in 100%, and I expect things to go a certain way. When they don’t, yeah, I get pissed off.”
Despite the public spectacle and heated language, Logano insisted that the team has taken concrete steps to address the matter internally. “Austin and I talked about it. We’ve got to move forward. That’s what it is. I explained my side. He understood. We move on. That’s pretty much all there is to it.” While he admitted his anger led to a more public airing of grievances than was perhaps necessary, he stood by the need for frank conversations between teammates, offering, “Should I have hit the (radio) button and probably spouted off so much? Probably not. Probably not. Probably blew up into a little bigger situation than it needed to, but the conversation, either way, needed to happen. Just more people are talking about it now.”
Austin Cindric, reflecting on the controversial finish in his own post-race comments, expressed both understanding and regret over the heightened tension. Cindric described the final laps as chaotic, saying, “I felt like I kind of just got pinched and was trying not to wreck the cars in front of me, including Joey. So, it was a messy end to the stage and I feel like between myself and (Josh Berry) and Joey probably could have done better, because I do feel we let one slip there.” He acknowledged the emotions involved and the fine balance inherent in teamwork at the highest levels of racing.
Demonstrating maturity, Austin Cindric accepted his share of responsibility for the outcome, but highlighted the challenges of maintaining trust in high-pressure environments. “I can understand his frustration without kind of seeing the whole picture, but yeah, those are the type of things that when you’re expecting someone to have your best interest, those are the challenges. We have a lot of meetings centered around that, and I feel like it’s a constant, requires constant maintenance. It’s not always pretty and the conversations aren’t always easy, but I do feel like as a team we do it better than most,” he remarked, offering a nuanced perspective on team dynamics.
The incident has raised larger questions within the NASCAR community about the nature of teamwork in an intensely individualistic sport, especially when stakes are high and egos collide. While Joey Logano was harsh in his initial criticism of Austin Cindric, both drivers have publicly stated that they have put the issue behind them, at least for now. However, the dramatic radio exchange and subsequent social media storm have left fans and pundits speculating about the underlying relationships within Team Penske, as well as what these tensions could mean for their upcoming races.
For Austin Cindric, being thrust into the national spotlight for a moment of perceived disloyalty may reshape the way he is viewed both by teammates and outside observers. For Logano, the incident underlined his fierce commitment to the team’s success, while also exposing how quickly internal frustrations can escalate into public drama under the intense scrutiny of the NASCAR world. Chipper Jones’s interjection, though dismissed by Logano, demonstrated how storylines from one sport can resonate powerfully in another, amplifying controversy and prompting wider debate.
Looking ahead, it remains unclear whether the friction between Austin Cindric and Logano will have lasting effects on Team Penske’s race strategies or if the drivers’ conversation and agreement to move forward will truly mark an end to the drama. The episode serves as a vivid reminder that behind the roaring engines and breakneck speeds of Talladega, emotions run high, and the pursuit of victory tests not only skill but also the fragile bonds of trust and unity among teammates. As the series continues, all eyes will be on Austin Cindric to see how he responds in future high-pressure moments, and whether the lessons from Talladega can sustain harmony, or if more fireworks are on the horizon for Team Penske.
