Another Sunday at Talladega, another chapter in NASCAR’s ever-growing book of radio meltdowns—this time starring Joey Logano and his Team Penske teammate, Austin Cindric. With Stage 2 winding down and strategy in full swing, Joey Logano and Austin Cindric were at the front of the field, with Bubba Wallace, fighting for a stage win. Cindric was on the outside, and Logano moved up into Cindric’s lane, expecting a push from his teammate to win the stage. However, Cindric checked up, allowing Wallace to ease through with a stage win and valuable playoff points. 

Joey Logano exploded over the team radio: “Way to go, Austin, way to go, you dumb f—!” And that was just the green flag for the tirade. “Way to f——— go. What a stupid s—-. You just gave it to him. Gave a Toyota a stage win. Nice job. Way to go. What a dumba–. Put that in the book again.” Brutal. Raw. And caught on the airwaves, as reported by Jeff Gluck of The Athletic.

However, three days have passed, and you’d expect the usual post-race PR polish to kick in. Well, Logano did try scrambling to dial it back immediately after the race, telling SiriusXM NASCAR, “Should I have hit the button and spouted off so much? Probably not. Probably blew up into a little bigger situation than what it needed to, but the conversation either way needed to happen.” But damage control isn’t always a one-day job—especially when you’ve publicly torched your own teammate. That’s why the real reset came from Austin Cindric himself.

Austin Cindric subtly reminds Logano of the bigger goal

At Talladega Superspeedway, the 26-year-old from Columbus parked his No. 2 Ford in Victory Lane, edging out Ryan Preece by a razor-thin 0.22 seconds. It should’ve been all celebration. But the sting of Logano’s outburst still lingered, casting a shadow over what should’ve been a defining win. From Austin Cindric’s interview post-race at Talladega to his chat with Kevin Harvick on the ‘Happy Hour’ podcast, he could not escape the questions on Logano. So, when Taylor from Above The Yellow Line sat down with Cindric on the Racing America podcast, he obliged with an answer yet again. 

“Those are the things that, you know, are areas that you always have to have maintenance with,” he said. “Especially when it comes to races where you’re relying on your teammates and… expecting a lot of myself and my team.” To win at superspeedways, a good teammate is essential, as maintaining position in the draft is key to success. At Talladega, Cindric and Logano did that well for most of the race, managing to cycle themselves to the top 5 by the end. However, the stage 2 incident seemed to take precedence over any race result, and Cindric feels that things might have been better if Logano kept his displeasure within the team shop.

Austin Cindric added, “I feel like as teammates, we operate at a pretty high level and expect a lot out of each other. So I think that’s one of those things that… obviously we like to keep all of that contained to in-house.” Translation? ‘I heard you, Joey—but we’ve got a bigger mission.’ And that bigger mission? Winning championships, not arguments. Team Penske has won all three of the Next-Gen era championships since 2022, but a slow start to 2025 with Cindric giving them their first win of the season has sparked questions on their ability to succeed again.

However, despite Austin Cindric’s feelings toward the incident, he did acknowledge that Ford was in a good position at the end of that stage but failed to capitalize. “I feel like at the end of that stage, you know, we had three of our players up there, and I feel like those are opportunities you got to be able to maximize.” Cindric’s words may have been composed, but the message was clear: unity matters, but so does respect. In the meantime, Joey Logano’s outburst is still echoing through NASCAR circles. 

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After hurling words at Cindric, Joey Logano had to eat humble pie 

Besides his verbal outburst at Austin Cindric, Logano had a pretty successful outing at Talladega when the checkered flag dropped. The Penske #22 got his first top-5 finish of the season and was finally seeking his way into the top-10 of the Cup Series standings. But the racing gods weren’t done humbling him.

Hours later, Logano’s day went from promising to devastating. His hard-earned fifth-place finish? Gone. Disqualified. NASCAR tech inspectors found an unsecured bolt on the rear spoiler—an infraction that triggered an automatic DQ. Poof—his nine-stage points vanished, and so did his top-5 result. Final score: 39th place, and a tumble from 8th to 11th in the championship standings. Cue the salt in the wound: Chipper Jones logged on.

The Atlanta Braves Hall of Famer and longtime racing fan didn’t mince words in a tweet that sent NASCAR Twitter into a frenzy: “Good teammates are hard to come by, Boss! Some people are ‘hooray for our team’ as long as ‘I’m the star’ as every team has them. Sometimes karma is glorious.” He didn’t just throw shade—he tagged Logano directly. And Logano? Shocked.

“I’m surprised that a professional athlete would act in that manner,” Logano told the press. “He’s been through it.” The implication? Chipper should know better. But when a baseball legend calls you out for being a bad teammate and celebrates your misfortune as “karma,” it’s more than just a fan’s opinion—it’s a public relations body blow.

So let’s take stock: a miscommunication on-track, a profanity-laced team radio outburst, a disqualification, a Hall of Famer’s callout, and Austin Ciindric calmly refusing to stir the pot. And right now, as the dust settles, one thing’s clear: the most dangerous wrecks in NASCAR don’t always involve twisted sheet metal—they involve pride, perception, and teammates who suddenly feel like rivals.