Logano: Final practice penalty "makes our sport look dumb"

Not that Junior has ever withheld his opinion in any of the multi-media avenues NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver has at his disposal.

But Junior unleashed his fury on the sanctioning body via Twitter rant on Saturday after making some pointed remarks during his weekly media availability on Friday.

When Earnhardt discovered Joey Logano had to sit on pit road in time out during Happy Hour for failing pre-qualifying inspection four times on Friday, he didn’t mince words.

“No (expletive) way. That’s silly to make him sit out there.” After a NASCAR official replied to his tweet, Earnhardt fired back, “I’ve no issue with making him miss practice. Him sitting on pit road with what amounts to wearing a dunce hat is highly unnecessary.” And, “Missing practice is plenty of punishment. No need to bust out the dunce hat.”

His final point? "(I) like strict governing and harsh penalties to keep things honest. I don’t like our sport looking silly. My opinion: this achieves the latter," he tweeted.

Logano's thoughts

Of course, Logano shared Earnhardt’s sentiment. After all, it was Logano who sat in the car at the end of pit road in 76-degree heat on Saturday for 50-minutes.

“I had time for a lot of thoughts in there, mainly that it’s a total joke,” Logano said. “I guess that’s mainly what I totally thought in there. I don’t know why it has to be out on pit road. I mean, a penalty is a penalty. That’s fine, but there’s no reason to sit out there. I think it’s dumb, but that’s coming from a guy that just sat in a car for an hour sweating. That may not be the best thing to say, but it’s true.”

Logano agreed with Earnhardt that the penalty “makes our sport look dumb.”

“Like I said, it’s kind of a joke,” Logano added. “I don’t get it, personally. I think we can accomplish the same thing in a more professional manner.”