by Lee Spencer

Comment

After dumping Joey Logano in the Nationwide Series race on Saturday at Watkins Glen International, Gordon met with NASCAR at the trailer prior to the drivers meeting on Sunday to explain his side of the story.

Gordon, who salvaged a 14th-place finish after the incident Saturday, said he hoped "in the future we will both race each other cleaner." Gordon added that he didn't expect any further repercussions from NASCAR. However, Sprint Cup Series director John Darby said that any final outcome would depend on Gordon's behavior in Monday's rain-delayed Cup race.

"This whole turn of events started with Joey running into the back of my (car) in Turn 10," Gordon said in a press release. "He then knocked me sideways in Turn 11. To show him my displeasure, I ran him down towards the inside wall on the front straight. I tried to do a crossover move in Turn 1 to get back by him; however, I misjudged a little, resulting in both of us getting flat tires."

Gordon said the pair "were racing for the lucky dog position" at the time of contact. Gordon said Logano "wrecked the No. 34 of Tony Raines ... after the bus stop chicane" which allowed Gordon to clear the No. 20 in Turn 9.

"He saw that I was going to pass him for the Lucky Dog position, so he tried to block me," Gordon said. "This maneuver resulted in his right rear tire connecting with my left front. From there, I felt he would be OK because he was in the section where the outer loop was. Rather than going down the inner loop, he decided to cut across the grass, hitting the tire barrier."

Once Logano emerged from his flame engulfed car and was cleared at the infield care center, he was scored 33rd.

"We had a good car," Logano said. "Probably not a winning car, but we could have continued our top-five streak. We just got wrecked. I don't know what his problem was, but there is no room for that. The frustrating part is that I'm not going to be back in this car until Atlanta.

"You can't fix stupid. It's forever."

This is the second straight weekend Gordon has been involved in an on-track altercation. In last Monday's rain-delayed Pennsylvania 500, the driver of the No. 7 was penalized five laps for aggressive driving after bumping into David Stremme during a caution period.