At Phoenix, during lap 204, chaos struck with a bang, tangling up Joey Logano in a mess that put a stop to his day. Corey LaJoie and Carson Hocevar, along with newbies Derek Kraus and Josh Berry, got swept up in the turmoil. The yellow flag flew once more, singling out another star with trouble on his hands. Logano took a hard hit from John Hunter Nemechek right at the corner’s entrance, catapulting him into the mix. Post-race, Logano didn’t mince words about the #42, laying out the facts straight.

Joey Logano sure didn’t bite his tongue when it came to calling out #42

Over the past four years, with Phoenix as the championship battleground, winners of the spring race like Joey Logano in 2020, Martin Truex Jr in 2021, and William Byron last year have all made it to the Championship 4. But this time around, Joey Logano’s chase ended prematurely thanks to a bump from John Hunter Nemechek.

Right at turn 4, after Logano took a hit to his bumper, his race was done and dusted, dragging Corey LaJoie and Derek Kraus into the fray. While it did damage cars and streaks for a few drivers, as for Joey Logano, he was left licking his wounds, acknowledging it just wasn’t his day on the track. He said, “It’s a shame. We weren’t running any good at all anyways, but, doesn’t make it better. Just fighting for lucky dogs, which, you get back there, and everyone’s racing not real good and I got caught up in it.”

After the race, when Joey Logano found out John Hunter Nemechek hopped on the radio to apologize, claiming he didn’t mean to bump into Logano’s car and that it happened because Logano had slowed down a bit early, Logano didn’t mince words in his response. He laid it out plain and simple, “You gotta lift to make the corners. You can’t hold it wide-open around Phoenix, and maybe he should take a look and realize he can’t do that, too. He drove straight in the back of me, and he needs to be man enough to own that.”

Heading into Sunday’s race, Logano was sitting 24 in the standings. His highlight of the season so far was a ninth-place finish in Las Vegas. Exiting this championship-contender track, he’s racked up three finishes at 28 or below in just four races. Even as a champ twice over, Logano, who topped the practice speeds on Friday but only managed to qualify for P23, is scratching his head over why he and his crew missed the mark so badly this weekend.

Besides that, the same crash snapped Corey LaJoie’s impressive streak of finishing every race since his last DNF at Talladega in 2022, making him the only driver to cross the finish line in every race of 2023.

Spire Motorsports driver is disappointed about not finishing well

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Spire Motorsports, the team that has been picking up speed lately, had Corey LaJoie grappling with a tricky qualifying run that set him back right from the start. On the flip side, his team buddy, Carson Hocevar, managed to finish a spot in the top 10 early on.

But LaJoie was hustling to stay in the mix, aiming to hover around the top 15, when chaos broke loose. After the dust settled, Bob Pockrass managed to catch a moment with the downbeat Spire star for a chat.

“I just saw the 22 going backward in a hurry and had nowhere to go. We just fought, clawed, and got back on the lead lap, super happy about that and got ourselves in decent position there trying to work back towards. I feel like we had a top-15 car again, which I’m super confident about the kind of cars we’re bringing to the race track. It just sucks,” LaJoie said after the race.

“I Have a Family”- Joey Logano on Putting Himself at Risk for Gaining Extra Advantage at Track

LaJoie, though miffed about the car’s performance, couldn’t help but give props to his teammate Carson Hocevar for nabbing another P15, mirroring his result from Las Vegas. Chatting with Pockrass, LaJoie touched on his first race-ending wreck in ages, saying, he was glad for the run he had, but he was hoping he’d hit 45 races without a glitch.

“You forget all the 44 when you’re standing here talking to you and there’s still guys making circles. Going to Bristol is one of my favorite tracks next week, so we’ll got back and rebound there.” Hocevar, on his end, hung tough for that P15 despite a rollercoaster of a race. Meanwhile, Christopher Bell and his lightning-quick Toyota Camry XSE snagged the victory in Phoenix.