Daytona’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 on August 23, 2025, was pure chaos, and with 13 laps to go, it got even wilder. Joey Logano, leading the pack, got loose coming off Turn 4, with Erik Jones hot on his bumper. The No. 22 Ford Mustang snapped around, slid down the frontstretch, and ended up beached in the infield grass, forcing NASCAR to throw a caution.

The yellow flag flipped the race on its head, sending a handful of drivers to pit road for a desperate last-ditch strategy in the playoff-deciding sprint. You could see it all in NASCAR’s clip and NBC’s replay: Logano washing up, spinning, and getting stuck, with Jones right there adding pressure.

That caution, timed around Lap 147 of 160, sparked a firestorm on X. Fans smelled something fishy, whispering about race manipulation, especially since Logano’s no stranger to hard-racing drama. NASCAR’s been hawk-eyed about intentional cautions lately, handing out stern warnings after past controversies like “Spingate” in 2013.

But the evidence here leans toward a classic Daytona racing incident. Logano got loose under Jones’s push, lost it, and paid a steep price. Stats show he led 27 laps but finished a brutal 27th, one lap down, while Ryan Blaney stole the win in a four-wide thriller.

If Logano was trying to game the system, it backfired big time. Still, fans on X aren’t buying it, and their reactions are a mix of conspiracy theories, frustration, and some good old-fashioned optimism about their guy.

Fan Reactions

X lit up with fans crying foul over Logano’s spin. One was convinced: “Can’t tell me he didn’t pull into the grass on purpose to get a caution. Great karma that he got stuck.” It’s easy to see why suspicions flared. Logano’s car looked like it was almost straightened out before sliding into the tri-oval grass. NASCAR’s rules force a yellow for a stuck car, and the damp infield sealed his fate. But that “karma” jab hits home. Logano’s gamble, if it was one, tanked his own race, leaving him a lap down and out of contention.

Another fan doubled down: “He could have gone down pit road. Is that race manipulation to bring out the caution by going back into the grass?” Pit road was close, and some thought Logano could’ve steered there to keep the race green. Replays tell a different story. His car was already rotating down the banking, and the grass was just where momentum took him. Unlike “Spingate,” where intentional spins were admitted, this looked like a natural slide with no clear yank of the wheel.

One fan vented: “Logano gets hosed in every single Next Gen superspeedway race.” There’s weight to that gripe. Since the Next Gen car hit the track in 2022, Logano’s been snakebit at drafting tracks. He wrecked in the 2022 Daytona 500, got caught in Talladega pileups, and now this. Despite leading 27 laps in the Coke Zero 400, he’s only got one top-10 in his last five Daytona points races. Superspeedways are brutal equalizers, even for a champ like Logano.

Another called it out: “He had it saved and went in the grass and got stuck on purpose to get a caution.” From the stands, it looked like Logano had the car under control before the grass took over. But Daytona’s banking and Next Gen cars are twitchy. Once he spun, the apron-to-grass transition was inevitable. Analysts saw no deliberate move, just a car carried by physics. If it was intentional, it was a terrible plan. Twenty-seventh place isn’t exactly a win.

One fan kept it real: “He didn’t get spun. He was loose.” NBC’s slow-motion replay backs this up. Logano’s car was wiggling before the spin, a telltale sign of dirty air or a loose setup. Jones was tight on him, but no blatant contact caused it. Superspeedway cars can snap in a heartbeat, and Logano’s radio call confirmed it “stepped out” on him. A racing incident, not a dump.

Finally, some optimism shone through: “Don’t worry he’s winning the Championship next year.” That’s not a bad bet. Logano’s got two Cup titles (2018, 2022) and a knack for shining in the playoffs, making the Championship 4 five times in a decade. Even with Daytona’s bad luck, his clutch performances on intermediate tracks keep him a perennial threat. Fans know not to count him out.