After losing the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship on an ill-fated pit stop last fall at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Joey Logano and the No. 22 Team Penske crew have started the 2015 season with a victory in the Daytona 500.
In the eyes of NASCAR on NBC’s Jeff Burton, Sunday’s triumph was the perfect response from Logano and Co. following their troubles at Homestead. Burton discussed the 22 team’s perseverance this morning with Newy Scruggs on NBC Sports Radio‘s “Voices of the Game.”
“To be able to come out and win the very first race of the year - which is the next race after that catastrophe, the biggest race of the year - and kind of join hands and say, ‘We’re gonna do this together, we’re gonna over come this,’ I think that made a huge statement,” Burton said. “Not only to us as fans, but to themselves and that’s what most important.
“To have a plan, get together in the off-season, talk about putting [Homestead] behind you ... and then going out and executing. That means a great deal to a race team that had a calamity. It was a mistake that cost them a shot at a championship. They’re back in it, man. This puts them back in the conversation. It was exactly what was needed.”
In addition to Logano, Burton also talked about Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s drafting decision that cost him the race, Kyle Busch’s injuries from his Xfinity crash on Saturday, drivers’ opinions on the lack of SAFER Barriers at tracks, and Kurt Busch’s indefinite suspension from NASCAR.
To hear the full interview, head over to NBCSportsRadio.com and click on “Voices of the Game” in the On-Demand section. Burton’s interview is about midway through the second hour of today’s show.