Bubba Wallace’s spotter pinpoints Heim-Riggs beef to vindicate Christopher Bell’s move over Joey Logano in the All-Star Race

Reigning Cup Series champion Joey Logano narrowly missed out on winning the NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway after Joe Gibbs driver Christopher Bell took the lead from him with less than 10 laps to go. Following the race, Logano disagreed with how Bell moved to P1 and drove down the victory lane. The Team Penske driver has invited criticism for his words since then.

Bell took the lead from Logano after aggressively moving into the inside line and making slight contact with the #22 Ford. Bell also had a tire advantage as Logano was told to remain on the track when the promoter's caution flag waved late in the race. Eventually, the #20 Toyota triumphed at NWS and took home the million dollars.

Recently, Bubba Wallace's spotter Freddie Kraft backed the Joe Gibbs Racing driver and his method of moving up the field, citing an example from the Truck Series race earlier that weekend. Corey Heim and Layne Riggs were involved in a similar incident where Riggs took the inside line and pushed Heim out of his track position. Kraft said on the Door Bumper Clear podcast [40:37 onwards]:

"I feel like this year he's (Christopher Bell) made a point of saying like "I want to be the one that changes the narrative of you don't have to do that, you don't have to race a guy that way." And I don't know that there was anything really egregious; there was kind of like the Heim Riggs thing, you know. He didn't wreck the guy, Joey (Logano) still finished second."

Furthermore, Freddie Kraft criticized Joey Logano and the #22 team for not anticipating Bell's move, as the Joe Gibbs Racing star had made waves to reach the front runners.

"You should have known for 40 laps this is coming. Like what was your plan? You're leading the race, you're dominating the race," he added.

Joey Logano secured a P2 finish after leading nearly 140 of the 250 laps in the All-Star Race. While last year’s All-Star win helped kickstart his championship season, his current campaign has been solid but not great. The reigning champion doesn’t appear to be in prime form to defend his title.

Joey Logano's strong message for Christopher Bell after the All-Star race controversy

Joey Logano was visibly frustrated after losing out to Christopher Bell in the Million Dollar Race. He wasn't happy with how Bell took the lead with his aggressive move. Speaking to Dirty Mo Media after the race, the three-time Cup Series champion made it clear he won’t forget what happened at North Wilkesboro Speedway anytime soon.

"I'll just race him the same way. That's all it is. I mean, this race was for a million dollars, you know, I get it. But we race each other every week. We're like elephants, we don't forget anything," he said.

Meanwhile, NASCAR is headed to Charlotte Motor Speedway for the highly anticipated Coca-Cola 600, scheduled for Sunday, May 25, at 6:00 PM Eastern. Catch the race exclusively live on Prime Video.