Kevin Harvick disagrees with Joey Logano for calling out Austin Cindric at Talladega

Joey Logano has received immense backlash due to his temper at Talladega Superspeedway over the weekend. His Team Penske teammate Austin Cindric was victorious, but the reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion wasn’t very happy with him.

The No. 2 Ford wheelman was the focus of a scathing rant from Logano at the end of Stage 2. He ripped Cindric after Bubba Wallace won the second stage of the race in Alabama. 

Evidently, Logano was angry at Cindric for slowing up, which killed his speed coming to the start-finish line: “Way to go Austin, way to go, you dumb f***!” Logano said, via Jeff Gluck of The Athletic. “Way to f***ing go. What a stupid s**t. You just gave it to him. Gave a Toyota a stage win. Nice job. Way to go. What a dumbass. Put that in the book again.”

Since, Logano has been panned for the moment of frustration, receiving backlash from his fellow drivers, media members and even Atlanta Braves legend Chipper Jones. The three-time champion tried to explain his side of the story to clear up any confusion, revealing that he’s spoken with Cindric, and the pair have decided to move forward from the incident. 

Still, Kevin Harvick isn’t buying it. On the latest episode of Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour, the former Cup Series champion disagreed with Logano’s point of view, chalking it up to superspeedway racing as a whole, and thinking Cindric didn’t necessarily do anything wrong at the end of Stage 2.

“I do disagree with Joey’s assessment of that,” Harvick stated. “It looked to me like there was so much momentum going forward that he had to pop out of line and put himself, you know, in a spot where he wasn’t just going to ram into the back of the No. 22. So, I felt like there were a couple cars behind him pushing, and a lot of times what happens in that scenario is, if you just try to hit the car in front of you, then it stacks you up, and you’re already being pushed, then sometimes it spits you out and spins you out. So, it’s really kind of 50-50, as to whether you know that gripe from Joey is legitimate.

“I think, from a driver standpoint, you always feel like you’re getting hung out like your teammate, or he could’ve helped you. You have this plan that’s laid out before the race with the manufacturers, and you’re expecting him to push you. I think there was more to it than just being able to push.  But Joey definitely went off. I was a little surprised that he went off on the radio like that.”

All told, all that matters is Joey Logano and Austin Cindric have squashed the beef, and they’re looking to move on from the incident. As you can tell, the No. 22 wheelman didn’t gain any fans due to his actions at Talladega, but he’s already batting from pretty low in the order on that front anyway.