Dale Earnhardt Jr. reacts to Joey Logano walking back Christopher Bell comments

Joey Logano was frustrated with Christopher Bell after this past Sunday’s NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway. A “pissed off” Logano accused Bell of running him into the wall to take the lead in the closing laps of the race. He added he would have spun Bell out had he gotten back to his bumper. 

Logano later walked back his comments. But Dale Earnhardt Jr. is still irked about Logano’s instant reaction following Bell’s $1 million win, he said on Tuesday’s “Dale Jr. Download.”

“Joey gets out and says that stuff and holy sh*t, everybody went after him,” Earnhardt said. “In the world of social media, which I know is a tip of the iceberg but still, everybody was taken aback. Even Christopher Bell, when they told him he was like, ‘Really?’ He was really surprised that Joey felt the way he felt. Does it make it OK now that Joey walked them back? I don’t know.

“… I still have a problem with Joey having that instant reaction. Even though he walks it back a day later, I appreciate that. He went and watched it and went, ‘Alright, it wasn’t that bad.’ For him to have the instant reaction he had, still is a irk. He could say, ‘I’m pissed, I lost $1 million.’ Not, ‘He raced me like an assh***.'”

Joey Logano misses out on back-to-back All-Star Race wins

It was a heat of the moment reaction for Logano after just hopping out of the racecar. Beyond what happened with Bell, Logano was ticked off by the Promoter’s Caution, which came out while he was out front. Speedway Motorsports CEO Marcus Smith ordered Michael Waltrip to throw the yellow flag at Lap 216. That brought the field down pit road one final time.

That is, most of the field. Logano and Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney were among the drivers who stayed out. Logano blocked Bell as long as he could on old tires. Bell cleared him with nine laps to go. Earnhardt would have been disappointed had Bell passed Logano with no fireworks.

“Christopher Bell just had the better car and had to muscle his way on by. Which we put them in an atmosphere where muscling them by is what we wanted,” Earnhardt said. “We put them at the racetrack — multiple grooves, $1 million, the soft tire — like, if there was a pass at the end of that race that was clean, I would have been fu*king disappointed. It wasn’t enough fireworks.”