No discipline expected for Kyle Busch-Joey Logano Las Vegas fight

Fines shouldn’t be flying after the fists flew at the end of the Kobalt 400.

In the overall tapestry of NASCAR fights, the one fans witnessed on Sunday in Las Vegas between Kyle Busch and Joey Logano (or more precisely, between Busch and almost the entire No. 22 crew) was something to talk about but hardly an all-time memorable moment.

In other words, it’s not the type of incident most fans would say warrants big fines or suspensions. NASCAR appears to be viewing it with the proper perspective as well.

NASCAR’s chief racing development officer, Steve O’Donnell, said as much during an interview on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio (via NBC Sports).

"“We’ve always said that we’ve got to take everything and make sure we look at all the video. I would say from our initial assessment last night in looking at what happened, as far as on track, I don’t think we saw anything that was intentional by any means. We’ll continue to review that. We’ve got to have discussions with both drivers. We talked to some folks postrace as well.“I think our intention would be not to react unless we see something that we haven’t seen yet and something that comes up from those discussions. We’ll certainly bring both drivers together before we go on track in Phoenix and again have some dialogue. Still under review. It’s an emotional sport, and I think it shows exactly how much every position means on the track. These weren’t two guys going for the win, obviously going for top 10s, but it shows how important it is in the sport.’’"

Notable in O’Donnell’s comments is his view that Logano didn’t intentionally wreck Busch, though the No. 18 driver definitely didn’t feel that way before approaching Logano’s pit box. Later in the interview, O’Donnell also discussed whether Monster Energy has any say in these types of disciplinary decisions (it does not) and whether or not there could be a perception of hypocrisy if the sport’s governing body handed out discipline while also using the scuffle to promote the brand.

He even touched on the idea that perhaps crew members shouldn’t be getting involved in physical altercations. It’s an underrated aspect of any kind of post-race brawl, but tire carriers and changers are much bigger than drivers.

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What could change the minds of those at NASCAR headquarters is if this becomes an ongoing saga between the two drivers. Busch did hint that Logano was “gonna get it” after the brawl, and NASCAR has acted quickly when someone intentionally wrecks a fellow competitor.

The racing world will have its eyes on Phoenix this weekend to see if the bad blood has cooled off or will spill out again.