“His wife wears the firesuit in the family and tells him what to do. It’s probably not his fault,” said Joey Logano about Kevin Harvick.

“I hardly talk to A.J. anyway. I don’t think I’ll talk to him about this,” said Kasey Kahne about A.J. Allmendinger.

Logano and Kahne were two angry drivers over what happened in the final stages of Pocono’s NASCAR Cup Series race.

A spin by Logano with slightly over a lap remaining set up a green-white-checkered finish. The spin came from contact with the front of Harvick’s machine.

Both were fighting hard for top-five positions. The duo crossed over the tunnel turn side-by-side and Logano pulled away to a slight advantage down the short chute. Entering turn three Harvick’s right front corner touched the left rear of Logano and a cloud of smoke billowed off his rear tires as he tried in vain to keep his car under control. The Joe Gibbs Racing machine slid around and the yellow waved.

On the race’s final lap following the restart, Kahne made an inside-passing attempt on Allmendinger. ‘Dinger’ moved to the left on the Long Pond straightaway in an apparent blocking maneuver. Kahne wound up sliding through the infield grass and shooting back up into traffic. Heavy impact from Mark Martin and Greg Biffle launched Kahne into the air and briefly on top of the outside retaining wall. A large pileup resulted and what was left of the field crossed under the checkered flag.

Then the drivers’ frustration came to light.

Logano pulled his car up to Harvick’s door on pit road and angrily emerged. A crewmember attempted to calm the driver when Tom Logano, Joey’s father, placed his hands on the Gibbs crewman, moved him aside and hotly gestured toward Harvick. The younger Logano approached Harvick but was kept away by a group of Childress Racing crewmembers. Logano voiced his displeasure from a distance before finally storming off towards his hauler.

After changing out of his driving uniform and into street clothes Logano said, “I don’t know what his deal is with me. I don’t know what I ever did to piss him off but he’s apparently stupid.”

Harvick gave the impression that he viewed the incident as a racing accident. “I got in there and we just wound up getting together. Just two cars going to the same space at the same time,” said Harvick.

Kahne showed less physical emotion than Logano. He dejectedly walked to the ambulance for his mandatory checkup and offered comments in the garage area. “ I had a big run on A.J. and the 77 (Hornish). As I come across the track he just starts left and I’m in the grass at that point. I couldn’t turn back against it once somebody shoots to the left like that and blocks you. He stuck us in the grass.”

Allmendinger was apologetic after the event. “Kasey had a big run and I defended and I didn’t think he was coming as quick as he was” Allmendinger said. “By the time I moved he was already there and got in the grass. I’m sorry to everybody’s race teams that got caught up in that.”

Sunday’s race on the two-and-a-half mile superspeedway left some drivers fuming as if they had just run a short track bullring. Kahne and Logano may be looking forward to Martinsville in the fall with their memories focused on Pocono.

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