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“Sent Denny to the Hospital” – Tony Stewart Slammed Joey Logano and Vowed to “Teach Him a Lesson” for NASCAR Revenge Tour a Decade Ago

Published 11/15/2022, 11:45 AM EST

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Back in 2013, Joey Logano had just joined Team Penske the previous winter and he managed to make himself known as one of the most aggressive drivers on track. However, his action on track, especially when retaliating against fellow drivers and former teammates caught the eye of Tony Stewart, who wasn’t as forgiving as others.

During the race at Fontana during the 2013 Cup Series Championship season, Logano had raced others in an overtly aggressive manner. During the final restart, he dived down the inside to block Stewart, who was coming in hot. Stewart was so upset he went up to a casually smirking Logano and smacked him across the face. But just as always, Logano was surrounded by his mechanics to protect him from further harm and they swooped on top of Stewart to get him away from Logano.

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After the fight, Stewart told Sports Illustrated, “It’s time he learns a lesson, He sent Denny to the hospital and screwed our day up.”

Logano did not only ruin Stewart’s race day, but also Denny Hamlin’s. But what had he done to Hamlin, that sent the latter to the hospital?

What did Joey Logano do to Denny Hamlin?

Logano used to be Denny Hamlin’s teammate early on at Joe Gibbs Racing before signing onto Team Penske. However, during the 2013 Fontana race, Logano was in the mood for revenge and he took it out on Hamlin in the worst way possible.

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via Getty

Logano moved up the track abruptly and hit Hamlin’s car, which in turn sent Hamlin spiralling out of control and on towards the infield concrete barrier. Hamlin’s car hit the barrier at around 160 mph and came to a stop. Soon the driver was seen getting out of the car but then he fell on the ground. When taken to the hospital it was realised that Hamlin received a compression fracture on his vertebrae.

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But what did Logano extract revenge for? Well, as it turns out just the week prior to the race at Fontana, Hamlin had spun Logano out of the lead at Bristol. Therefore, the loss was still fresh in his mind and the Penske driver decided to take his revenge on Hamlin at Fontana.

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However, as it turned out, Logano may have overstepped his boundaries and morals by causing such a violent crash. Moreover, Stewart’s anger towards Logano was justified, since the Penske driver tried to pull off an abrupt move on the veteran driver as well.

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Written by:

Srijan Mandal

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Srijan Mandal is a NASCAR author at EssentiallySports. He is currently pursuing his Master’s in Journalism and has been writing for his own blog as well, covering NASCAR, F1, F2, W Series, MotoGP, DTM, IndyCar, WRC, and WEC. Following motorsports for more than a decade, he has become a devout supporter of McLaren Racing, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Bubba Wallace, Sir Lewis Hamilton, and Ayrton Senna.
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Edited by:

Nizamul Haque Bhuyan