Kasey Kahne is hot at AJ Allmendinger...and Joey Logano is really hot at Kevin Harvick: short-track tempers at 200 mph
Kasey Kahne nearly went over the wall in a late race crash. And he is not happy with his teammate for the block that launched him (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
By Mike Mulhern
mikemulhern.net
POCONO, Pa.
It's not a good season to be teammates, apparently.
This time it was Kasey Kahne and AJ Allmendinger, teammates at Richard Petty Motorsports, tangling in the final moments of Sunday's Pocono 500 and triggering a very ugly crash that nearly sent Kahne up and over the outside wall.
Kahne was trying to pass Allmendinger at the end of the race, and Allmendinger went to block.
Then all hell broke loose at Pocono Raceway.
"I don't know what AJ was doing there," Kahne complained. "I don't ever really talk to him much...but you can bet I will be talking to him this week.
"We had a fast car all day, and it is just a shame it had to end the way that it did. It was looking like we were going to finish decently. And I thought we had a better car than where we were going to end up. But still we would have been better than how it did end up."
"I am not really sure what happened," Allmendinger said. "Kasey had such a run on me, and I went to defend. By the time I defended, he was in the grass.
"That is my bad. I feel bad about that, I really do."
Greg Biffle was one of several men caught up in the drama, and he blamed Allmendinger: "I don't know what his deal is. He totally caused that whole thing.
"If he is driving that blue car with the 43 on the side that put Kasey into the grass, then, yeah, it is on him.
"He ran him down on the grass.
"You can't run a guy down on the grass.
"You can't run your teammate down onto the grass. That is horrible.
"He could have backed out of that before he put him down like that.
"That was hairy there at the end."
And it was pretty hairy up on pit road too after the race, when Joey Logano and his crew squared off against Kevin Harvick and his crew, over an incident between those two – Harvick trying to pass for fifth place, Logano trying to hold on to fifth.
Logano wound up in the wall. And he made it very clear he was blaming Harvick.
NASCAR officials were talking to the two after the race about the incident, not the first involving the two.
Harvick finished fourth to remain atop the Sprint Cup tour standings.
"He (Harvick) let me go in the middle of the straightaway, and then decided to dump me in the next turn," Logano complained. "I don't know what his problem is with me, but it's probably not his fault. His wife wears the fire suit in the family and tells him what to do. It's probably not his fault."
Logano's team owner Joe Gibbs said he would leave it up to the drivers to settle things.
"They (Joe Gibbs and J. D. Gibbs) just said to calm down, and we did finish 13th," Logano said. "We rallied from 30th in the last two laps, so at least we got something out of it. Not a top-five like we should have finished.....
"I don't know what I ever did to piss him off...but he is apparently stupid."
Harvick of course had a different take: "I got into him going into turn three...and he just races not giving people any respect and not much room.
"So we just wound up getting together. It's unfortunate, but that's the way it goes.
"Just two cars going for the same space at one time."
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Joey Logano didn't care for Kevin Harvick's move in Sunday's Pocono 500 and gave a fiery display on pit road post race (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
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Hey Kasey, You Ever Hear Of Backing Off?
AS much as one can fault AJ, Kahne needs to take more blame - he tried to force it and ran himself into the grass.
Brain Fade
AJ had Brain Fade... just as the article said... you don't run anyone down in the grass at 200+++ mph
Why not?
If I could see that AJ was gonna block clear to the bottom of the track, couldn't Kahne and his spotters see it. Doesn't Kahne's brake pedal work? AJ pulled a classic block and Kahne was classic in trying to force the issue.
DMan
I guess AJ forgot he is in
I guess AJ forgot he is in NASCAR now and not the IRL, you can block there and get away with it. On his twitter page he said he was proud of his finish. Wonder if he's proud of his actions resulting in that many good racer put of of the race.He wants to establish himself as a top notch driver, things like this will do it for all the wrong reasons.
If it comes down to Richmond
If it comes down to Richmond and Kevin Harvick needs a good finish to make the Chase and Joey Logano is out. Ya think Joey Logano is gonna cash in his chips there with Harvick? If not Richmond, during the Chase perhaps.
I thought AJ made a nice move but Kasey went somewhere where there wasn't a move, kinda like Kyle Busch on Denny Hamlin in the All Star race.
Kahne & AJ
Kasey did nothing wrong. AJ went all the way to grass to put Kasey in the grass. Re-watch the video. You try backing off at that speed & let me know the results!
I think it's funny how the
I think it's funny how the 1979 Daytona 500 is viewed as a "great" when Donnie Allison essentially did the same thing Allmendinger did yesterday: running somebody in the grass. Don't know if AJ's was intentional or not, but the result for Kahne was the same as it was for Yarborough. Is it great, or was it wrong?
Logano with the quote of the year when venting about Harvick: "I don't know what his problem is with me, but it's probably not his fault. His wife wears the fire suit in the family and tells him what to do. It's probably not his fault."
What is Harvick talking about with the "no respect" line? Logano is one of the cleaner racing drivers in the garage. Harvick just couldn't handle someone racing him hard and not giving him a handout, so he does the no-talent move and dumps Logano. Turn Joey loose and let him thump on Harvick's big forehead.
David
He wasn't RUN into the grass. If he was RUN into the grass he would have hit AJ when he came back up. You MAY be able to say he was FORCED into the grass. But that was his OWN part doing. KK made a move which put him into a position that he would HAVE to had passed AJ down low. Never even considering AJ would do what every other driver on the last lap would do, try to block. To be RUN into the grass would mean AJ side would have hit KKs side and pushed him down there. They were NEVER side by side. KK made a BAD decision. He decided ahead of time that AJ would volunarily MOVE or just let him go without RACING. I would NEVER do that with anybody at 200mph.
Run/forced/turned into.
Run/forced/turned into. Whatever the term, it's the same thing. Kahne's only option was to wreck Humdinger or take to the grass as he did. Given the outcome of the choice he made, my guess is that he wrecks Humdinger next time. Same with Regan Smith going below the yellow line at Talledega two years ago. If you're a driver that does not TRY to wreck people, then your instinct is to avoid them even when they made the bad move. My guess is Regan Smith would wreck Tony Stewart if he had it to do over again to, instead of being screwed by NASCRAP for not creating an earlier Edwards-Keselowki aerial show.
kasey vs aj
Hey david, u obviously have no idea what ur talking about, so stop. didnt anyone evr teach you if u dont have somethg nice to say dont say it at all? Until ur driving at 200 mph and in Kaseys position dont talk. i think kasey knew what was good for him but it just didnt turn out good. LEAVE MMMMYYYYY KASEY ALLOONEEE!
Harvick post-race quote
One of the best quotes of the weekend was when somebody asked Harvick if he had talked to Logano. Harvick said, "You can't talk to him. He's 20."
Guess that explains why he
Guess that explains why he wrecked Logano. Thanks for the insight.
Mr.Logano, can little Joey come out and play ?
Pretty sad when one of todays drivers has to have his father play wet nurse to him during the race weekend. Does his mother do all the cooking and cleaning in the motorhome ?
This is supposed to be a sport with REAL men driving cars. What we have today are a bunch of little kids trying to survive in a mans world. Pathetic at best.
Why is Logano's father even on pit road ? Go home dad and let your kid try and grow up, he just might get there faster without you...
AJ's move was great
First of all, Allmendinger was running up front all day and desverved not 10th but somewhere just outside of the top 5 like 6th 0r 7th because that is where he was running the whole day!
Next, was already racing somebody (Sam Hornish) who was on the outside. There was a lot of room between the 43 and the 77. Kahne could have just went through the middle not on the bottom where AJ was running.
And geez, guys AJ said he was sorry on twitter and in a interview
lovinkk#9
U poor aj fans..... U kno aj was wrong for what he did...but u just wont admit it. u are just ignorant! Hmm..anyone see the race at michigan? I think we ALL kno who the better one is. honestly Kasey is a team player.hes nice to everybody..but then u got ppl that come along like dumbdinger who think they are soo better then all the rest. Until aj can actualy do something (u kno, like win)..u should all leave Kasey alone because Kasey knows what hes doing while Aj has no idea.
kasEYs gIRl
I completely agree with u, lovinkk#9, dumbdinger really needs to get his head on straight!!
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