Joey Logano says athletes should be entitled to their opinions, but that they should also be aware of the influence they have on those who watch and follow them.
Logano, who is one of 16 drivers contending for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship this season, met with reporters prior to Friday’s practice session at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Logano, who drives for Penske Racing, debuted in NASCAR’s elite ranks in the Xfinity Series on May 31, 2008 — just days after his 18th birthday. He’s been in the spotlight pretty much since that time.
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Most of the NASCAR community is located in and around the Charlotte, N.C., area, site of nightly protests Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday after an officer-involved fatal shooting on Tuesday afternoon.
On Friday, Logano was asked about the role of an athlete when it comes to social issues.
“I think any athlete or public figure takes on a responsibility when you sit down here and talk to you guys, or at any point,” he told reporters at New Hampshire. “There’s a lot of people that you can influence in good ways or bad ways, and I feel like you should know that. There are a lot of athletes and public figures that don’t realize that about the reaction they can make across the country or the world in a lot of cases by just a couple of words.”
And how can they learn that?
“I feel like that should be somehow taught,” he said.
He went on to add that while athletes are entitled to their opinions, sometimes that’s not necessarily handled in the best way.
He said he tries to be aware of his role as a professional athlete when weighing in on issues.
"I believe we all should be entitled to our opinions," he said. "That’s A-OK, maybe some of the ways that it’s done is not the best way possible, but I personally believe when I sit down here I know the influence that I can have on young eyes watching us that are very fragile at the time that they could go a lot of different ways. You want to be a positive member of society and I think that’s something that I try to preach all the time is that, ‘Hey, I want to positively impact somebody’s life.’”
Logano mentioned working with the Manchester Police Athletic League, which he is doing this weekend, as an example of how to make a positive impact. According to the driver’s website, he and his foundation and sponsor are working to support the MPAL “center for at-risk youth” this weekend.
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He pointed to that as a way of making a positive impact, adding that he doesn’t “know a better way.”
As to the Charlotte protests specifically, Logano said that he’s not “100 percent sure what we can do.” He added that he feels “an emotional reaction” to this situation — especially given his awareness of Charlotte; the NASCAR Hall of Fame was damaged during the violence.
“A lot of times when you see things like this happen it’s in a different city and you don’t recognize where it’s at, but when you see the NASCAR building getting vandalized and you see areas of the city that you know very well with just crazy things happening, it makes you sick to your gut,” he said.
“… To me, I don’t really know how to explain how I feel about it, but I know one thing is when I see buildings getting vandalized and things like that happening, it’s unacceptable in my opinion and we need to figure out how to control that and do it in a peaceful way, and I think we’d all come to a better understanding, for sure, of the situation.”
Fellow Chase competitors Matt Kenseth and Austin Dillon were also asked about the protests. Kenseth said that he had not watched the Charlotte unrest as “close as what some other people probably have.” He did say, though, that “you just hope it stops.”
He echoed Logano when it came to some of the things that were shown happening in Charlotte on Wednesday night.
“Obviously, I think that we’re very, very, very fortunate to live in a free country and peaceful protest and demonstrations are OK,” he said. “I mean, certainly the violence and the vandalism and the theft and stuff isn’t — isn’t really a way to, I think, prove a point or try to make things better. It’s definitely not making things better in that sense, so hopefully we’ll get it all figured out and go from there.”
Dillon, who is in the Chase for the first time, also offered his thoughts.
“I just hope everybody can look at everything and gather their thoughts and figure out the right way to fix the problems we have,” he said. “Hopefully, with the way things are the right people will come together and fix these problems that are going on. It’s just sad really.”