The oldest driver in the field crashed one of the youngest in Sunday’s NASCAR race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Camping World RV Sales 301: NASCAR’s oldest driver, Morgan Shepherd, 72, wrecks Joey Logano
Morgan Shepherd may have become the oldest driver to start a Sprint Cup race, but he also started a wreck that knocked out second-place Joey Logano on Sunday.
Jared C. Tilton
Seventy-two-year-old Morgan Shepherd lost control of his car and spun into 24-year-old Joey Logano, who was running second. Shepherd was 14 laps down at the time of incident and well off the pace.
“The slowest car on the racetrack took us out,” Logano said in an interview on TNT. “Go figure.
“If you can’t control your stuff, don’t even be out there. If you’re 10 laps down, what are you doing? Whatever. It is what it is.”
Shepherd became the oldest driver to start a race in NASCAR’s top division Sunday, breaking a record he already owned. He competed March 2 at Phoenix International Raceway, finishing last in the 43-car field.
Disagreeing with Logano’s viewpoint, Shepherd insisted the Team Penske driver should have been more mindful passing a slower car. Shepherd said age was not a contributing factor.
“It’s not like Joey hadn’t never had a problem and he’s a lot younger then me,” Shepherd told Motor Racing Network. “... Nobody’s fault. Maybe he didn’t realize how wicked loose I was, that I was having to tip-toe through the corners.”
There isn’t a mandatory retirement age for drivers, but NASCAR does requires that all competitors complete a physical prior to the season and be medically cleared by a physician. And at each event there is a minimum speed each driver must meet to remain on the track.
At no point did Shepherd fall below the speed threshold Sunday, according to NASCAR Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton.
“Morgan Shepherd has always been approved,” Pemberton said, talking with reporters after the race. “He’s been approved for decades. And so under our situation here, if you take a physical at the beginning of the year, you pass your physical, you pass inspection with your car, you qualify for the race and you run the event. And so he met everything he needed to meet.”
Logano suggested NASCAR reconsider its policy.
“I feel like there should be, like, a driver’s test before you get out in a Cup car and make sure you know how to drive before you drive one,” Logano said. “But I don’t know. I guess there isn’t.
“It is just dumb that it happened. I feel like that should be stuff that shouldn’t happen at this level of racing.”
Shortly after spinning, Shepherd radioed to his team that he was having difficulty maintaining control of his Chevrolet. “Guys, I can’t hang on to this thing,” he said. Shepherd finished 39th, 27 laps down behind winner Brad Keselowski -- Logano’s teammate.
Shepherd has four career wins in 517 Cup starts, his first coming in 1970.
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