The heated confrontation between Ty Gibbs and Joey Logano over their clash at the LA Clash has been one of the highlights of the 2024 unofficial season opener. While fighting for the win with just ten laps in the race, Gibbs ran Logano wide, ruining both party’s races. The post-race incident involving the two has received a mixed reaction from the racing community.
Joe Gibbs Racing veteran Denny Hamlin has also given his thoughts on the issue. He claims that Logano was actually trying to scare the young Gibbs, who is in his second year racing full-time in NASCAR. Hamlin also highlighted Ty Gibbs’ attitude towards Logano; he pointed out that Gibbs didn’t give sh*t what the Penske driver was saying.
Ty was saying, ‘Hey, come on in the hauler. Let’s do this privately.’ And Joey did not want to do it. He wanted to do it right there on the lift gate. And so that opened it up a little bit more. Do I think this was kind of a scare you tactic? Yeah, probably. I just think that Ty wasn’t going to take any s***. And you kinda heard it from his reaction. Like, ‘So what? Go for it. Hamlin said via Actions Detrimental.
Hamlin was the driver who benefited the most from the clash between Gibbs and Logano. He was driving P3 and, following the incident, was able to take the lead and later win by holding off ex-teammate Kyle Busch, who also took advantage of the incident to secure P2. One Gibbs and Logano would’ve easily won the race if not for the incident.
Denny Hamlin warns Ty Gibbs and Joey Logano about continuing their beef
The 23XI Racing co-owner went on to warn both drivers that continuing their rivalry isn’t a good idea. He pointed out that both drivers are now in a situation, before even the start of the season, where they are ready to take each other out during races with no remorse and added that he had advised Gibbs to be the first man to extend an olive branch.
And that’s just a dangerous game to play on both sides. Right? Because your season hasn’t even started, and you got two guys that are angry at each other. Again, when both of them are just fine wrecking each other, that’s not going to be good for either one. So, they gotta get it worked out somehow. My advice, I actually said to Ty was to be the first one to extend the olive branch. If he doesn’t pay back that, it’s free game.
It would be interesting to see how the rivalry between Logano and Gibbs plays out in 2024, as both drivers have huge goals for the season. Logano wants to be a championship contender from the start of the season, while Gibbs is looking for a race victory that could guarantee him a playoff berth. If their potential clash’s timing goes wrong this year, their whole season might get ruined.
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