Joey Logano was disqualified after Talladega. Interestingly, that was one of two main storylines on the three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion. The other was his profanity-laced tirade at the end of Stage 2 when he blasted his teammate Austin Cindric.
Baseball Hall of Famer Chipper Jones took to social media and blasted Logano for his explosive outburst. In other words, fans, including baseball legends take notice when a driver loses his cool during a race and voices it over the team radio.
So why do it? Why does a driver push the talk button on the team radio, knowing full well plenty of fans are listening? I asked that question of multiple drivers.
First up, the driver who went ballistic last week at Talladega.
”I think in those moments, like I said, everybody tries really, really hard to win and you put plans together and you try to do all the stuff correctly and not always does it go perfectly as planned,” Logano said. “And emotions are a real thing. In a lot of ways, emotions can help you as much as they hurt you, right? As long as you do it all in the correct way.
"And for me, more times than not, when I’m angry, I’m probably a little bit better race car driver. So, it’s just part of it, right? It’s part of sports. It shows that you care a lot. Obviously, still have the desire to win. If you don’t get mad about stuff, you probably don’t have the desire to win anymore.”
Logano’s other teammate, Ryan Blaney, has been known for regularly sharing his emotions on the team radio.
Why do NASCAR drivers push the button and cuss on the team radio? @joeylogano, @Blaney, @dennyhamlin and @TyGibbs sound off. pic.twitter.com/9gzO54lgNJ
— Kyle Dalton (@kdsportswriter) May 4, 2025
“Well, the people who say that — why do you push the button — they’ve never been in it before,” the 2023 champion said. “It’s easy to say just don’t do it. But it’s a little bit different. Do I wish I didn’t push the button a lot of times? I mean, yeah, of course. For me it’s like a pressure-release valve. I just have to get it out. And if I say it to myself, I feel like I don’t get it out.
“And that’s how I get over things. Like I need my five seconds of just releasing frustration and then OK, I’m focused back on what I need to be focused on. So yeah, super easy to say that but obviously this is like one of the only – like motorsports, everyone likes hearing that stuff.
“If you showed live mics on the NFL sideline, it’d be 10 times worse than whatever you hear us saying. So I wish they’d do that just to get a little bit of a comparison. But, yeah, that stuff happens. It’s just kind of part of the deal.”
Denny Hamlin says drivers typically push the button with a purpose.
“Usually, if you push the button, it’s because you want them to hear it,” the Joe Gibbs Racing driver said. “You want the message to get relayed through the other team. That really is the only reason. I mean, it’s why we make verbal threats that ‘when we get back to that guy, we’re gonna get ’em or whatever.’ Like you’re wanting the other side to hear it. That way they understand you’re pissed.”
Hamlin’s younger JGR teammate, Ty Gibbs, who has been known for getting heated on his team radio, had his own unique reasons.
“Well, you know that radio is for your team, right?” the 22-year-old said. “The only reason why anybody else has access to it is for entertainment. And we are an entertainment business. But also I think we get made out to look like bad people at times for what we say on the radio or what happens.
“And there’s truth behind that because you say it and you push the button. But also I think if any of us drivers put radios inside of somebody’s car going down on the highway, I think that a lot of people would probably be in way worse trouble than we would. And I think that’s something that everybody should understand, right?
“You have people on the stands and people that watch that have never experienced anything like that in racing. But also that have never — all they do is just accuse and cancel you for stuff people say on the radios that are in the middle of competition.
“And I’m not calling out anybody, but I think it’s not fair. Nobody should be judged by that. I think that there’s a certain chance you can be a little bit. But I’m talking about like the regular fan calling somebody out and not saying something about somebody else said. It’s just this is our way we communicate with our team. That’s our only way to do it.
“Everybody’s listening to everything. I don’t think that that’s fair. I think that everybody should kinda understand, like it’s definitely a lot going on for sure. I’m sure everybody else would be a lot worse off than we would and stuff they say getting cut off down the highway. There’s a lot of traffic getting in here. I’m sure people are fired up getting into this place.”
Related: Joey Logano Accuses Chevrolets of Cheating Again at Phoenix
