NASCAR won't penalize Logano, Stewart for fight

Jeff Gluck, USA TODAY Sports | USATODAY

NASCAR will not issue any penalties in relation to Sunday's Auto Club 400 in Southern California, a decision that includes non-calls for incidents involving Tony Stewart, Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin.

NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp confirmed the decision on Twitter.

Stewart, who fought with Logano on pit road and later cursed during a live interview (some of it was bleeped), escaped a fine and possible probation for his actions after the race in Fontana, Calif.

"A few years ago, we backed away from micromanaging driver's emotions," Sprint Cup director John Darby said on a Tuesday call with reporters. "You'd hope in today's world, if someone didn't win a race, they'd be upset. Emotions that follow a race; drivers arguing a bit doesn't create a foul in our world today. The crews did a great job of managing the drivers to make sure it didn't cross the line to physical violence. That's just another example of the state of competition in NASCAR racing and the disappointments that come when you don't win a race. I don't see any foul there at all."

Stewart confronted Logano after the race because he was upset with being blocked on the bottom lane after the final restart in the closing laps.

"It's time he learns a lesson," Stewart said afterward. "He's run his mouth long enough and done this double standard, but he's nothing but a little rich kid who has never had to work in his life. ...

"He has that right, he has the choice to do that. If he ever turns down across in front of me again, I don't care what lap it is, he won't make it through the other end of it," Stewart said.

Logano was also cleared for his part in the incident, as well as for his role in a violent crash that sent Hamlin to the hospital with a fractured vertebra.

Logano and Hamlin were bumping and rubbing in the closing laps as they battled for the lead. It appeared Logano got loose, wiggled and got into Hamlin. Logano crashed into the upper outside wall, but Hamlin's car sailed into an infield wall — with no SAFER, or soft, barrier — and was lifted off the ground and turned around.

"It was the last lap of the race, the last time to see turns 3 and 4," Darby said. "They were side by side, and everything that great competitors do. If someone was of the mind-set to retaliate, they would have been nose to tail to start with and drove into the back of (the other car) and spun them out. In this case, that was so far the opposite of that."

Four-time champion Jeff Gordon was docked 25 points, fined $100,000 and placed on probation through the end of the year for intentionally wrecking Clint Bowyer last November at Phoenix International Raceway, but that incident was much more clear-cut.

Though Logano was not expected to be penalized for the wreck, some fans had called for punishment due to Hamlin's injury and Logano's apparent lack of remorse in a TV interview afterward.

Logano told USA TODAY Sports by phone Monday that he had "no idea" Hamlin was hurt or even that he hit the wall hard when he told Fox: "He probably shouldn't have done what he did last week (at Bristol), so that's what he gets."

"I just thought we were racing hard, you know?" Logano said Monday. "It happens. You don't ever want anyone to get hurt; you don't ever want anything to happen, especially to Denny. We were racing really hard there at the end of the race."

Hamlin, who was released from Loma Linda University Medical Center on Monday night, told USA TODAY Sports that "I really went out of my way throughout the day to give the 22 room in a lot of different places. He raced me really hard for really the entire event and obviously other guys as well. At the end, I think he saw I was going to win and he wasn't going to let that happen."

Hamlin will see a specialist Wednesday or Thursday to determine what treatment he needs and how long he may be out of the car.

NASCAR's top-tier series resumes April 7 at Martinsville Speedway.

The battle for the lead and crash marked the continuation of a recent rivalry between the former Joe Gibbs Racing teammates that developed at this season's Daytona 500, where Hamlin was unhappy with the way he claimed his former teammate clogged traffic near the end of the race. In a Twitter message to Brad Keselowski, Hamlin referred to Logano as a "genius teammate."

At Bristol Motor Speedway on March 17, Hamlin tapped Logano into a spin in Turn 2 while battling for second with 152 laps remaining. Logano went to Hamlin's No. 11 Toyota to confront him after the race before being separated by crewmembers.

NASCAR's decision seems to give the green light for further physical altercations. Stewart suggested after the race that NASCAR treat driver fights like hockey — once someone goes to the ground, he said, it's over.

Contributing: Nate Ryan

Follow Jeff Gluck on Twitter @jeff_gluck and Ryan @nateryan