Sports

Middletown Native Logano in Hot Water With 2 NASCAR Drivers

The 22-year-old the NASCAR Sprint Cup driver has traded barbs with Denny Hamlin and Tony Stewart in the past week.


Middletown native Joey Logano, 22, the NASCAR Sprint Cup driver who began his racing career at Silver City Quarter Midget Club in Meriden, is back in the news again for altercations with drivers Denny Hamlin and Tony Stewart.

Hamlin, 32, drives the #11 FedEx Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing and Stewart, 41, is No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet SS. 

According to the Hartford Courant, Hamlin and Logano destroyed their chances to win the Auto Club 400 on the final lap at Auto Club Speedway.

Find out what's happening in Middletownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“It was Logano's row with Stewart that led to the most heated exchange of the season so far, first as Stewart tried to get a piece of Logano on pit road and later as the three-time champion roasted the 22-year-old with criticism that turned very personal,” according to the Courant.

The Courant quotes him saying about Logano: "He's run his mouth long enough. … He's nothing but a little rich kid who's never had to work in his life, so he's going to learn what us working guys who had to work our way up … how it works."

Find out what's happening in Middletownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

MSN Fox Sports says, “Hamlin suffered an L1 compression fracture in a crash on the final lap of Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway. He was battling driver Joey Logano for the win when contact from Logano sent Hamlin's car into the inside retaining wall.”

ESPN racing blogger Terry Blount tells NASCAR fans to be careful when attributing Hamlin’s injuries to his exchange with Logano. "If you're blaming Joey Logano for Denny Hamlin's broken back, you need to think again.

"Hamlin has an L1 compression fracture now because he hit a concrete wall head-on that didn't have the SAFER barrier in front of it. It happened to Hamlin on Sunday on the final lap with a vicious crash into an inside wall at Auto Club Speedway that didn't have the SAFER barrier in place," Blount writes.

Logano's Facebook page enters his first season with Penske Racing coming off a 2012 campaign that saw him produce career-best results in both the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series. 

The 22-year-old driver combined for 10 victories on the year, as he earned his second-career Sprint Cup Series win at Pocono Raceway and won nine Nationwide Series races – third-most ever in a single season. After showing the ability to win on all levels of racing, Logano will bring stability and success to the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Fusion beginning in 2013, it says.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here