NASCAR Throwback: When Kyle Busch was "not touched" by Joey Logano's words

Five years ago (2017), Kyle Busch and Joey Logano had an incident at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, making it one of the most famous encounters in their NASCAR careers. In a neck-to-neck battle for a top-finish on the final lap, Logano made contact with Busch, sending his #18 car spinning into the infield.

After the conclusion of the race, Busch confronted Logano on pit road and threw a punch at him. Logano replied with a punch as well, from which Busch got a cut on his forehead.

Logano won the Cup championship a year later in 2018, followed by Busch becoming the champion in 2019. However, what could have been a cordial moment between the two didn’t work out.

After winning the 2010 Cup Championship, Jimmie Johnson started a tradition of creating a journal to put his thoughts down on paper which still exists. Since then, it has been passed from champion to champion, each adding their own thoughts in the journal.

It was Joey Logano’s turn to hand over the journal to Kyle Buch after the 2019 season. But Busch didn’t pay much attention before presenting to him what the #22 driver wrote in the NASCAR Cup Series champions’ journal.

Kyle Busch said:

“I can admit I was not touched by what Joey wrote to me. I felt as though he was trying to explain something or why our differences were. He was giving his side of the story and not necessarily understanding both sides of the story.”

He continued:

“He can say he put a lot of effort into it and thought into it and that’s great. That’s what we’re supposed to be doing. But under different interpretations, it could come off a little bit differently.”

Kyle Busch hopes the future owners of the journal will keep this tradition alive for years to come.

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"I think we respect each other as competitors" - Joey Logano on Kyle Busch

Speaking to NBC Sports last year, Joey Logano admitted that he also wrote a journal letter to Kyle Busch. He said that despite on-track incidents, both the drivers respect each other as competitors.

Logano said:

“I wrote a letter to Kyle. Obviously, Kyle and I have had our run-ins on the racetrack and there’s no secret to that. At the same time, I think we respect each other as competitors. I think we’re very different people, but I think as competitors, we’re probably more similar than he thinks. It’s just kind of connecting at a different level and then handing it off.”

Logano became the champion of the 2022 season at Phoenix Raceway on November 6 and can expect a journal soon from 2021 champion Kyle Larson.