The penalty levied against Kenseth is fairly unprecedented. Indeed, the one driver to be suspended in recent years was Kyle Busch, for ramming Ron Hornaday into the wall at Texas in a Truck race in 2011. She was given the much lesser penalty of a $50,000 fine, the loss of 25 points and placed on NASCAR probation through December 31.
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The statement later adds, “Additionally, we factored aspects of safety into our decision, and also the fact that the new Chase elimination format puts a premium on each and every race”.
When the Joe Gibbs Racing driver and his team appeal the suspension today – Thursday – I suggest the ban will be reduced to one race. “Matt made sure it was enforced”. Kenseth, who was nine laps down at the time, was red-flagged from the race, while Logano returned and finished 37th.
Kenseth would like to argue that he had reason to dump Logano because Logano dumped him at Kansas, taking away Kenseth’s best chance, at the time, to advance to the Eliminator Round of the Chase. He needs to win either at Texas or Phoenix next week or move into the top four to be eligible to race for the title November 22 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Fast facts: Chris Buescher leads the season standings, 27 points ahead of defending champion Chase Elliott and 33 ahead of Regan Smith with three races left…. He had said earlier he wasn’t anxious about retribution, even though most of the industry believed Kenseth would not let the issue fade.
Nearly lost in the uproar at the Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 at Martinsville Speedway was Jeff Gordon’s victory.
What did Logano get for that blatantly premeditated ‘pay back?’ The answer is not a suspension. While I do a few what agree, that is another topic for another day; though I will say if the name was Earnhardt, Johnson, or Gordon, I believe they would be racing this weekend.
Kenseth said the Team Penske driver was lying, and he had support throughout the garage after wrecking Logano on objective.
Personally, if I was Kenseth I would have waited until the Texas race to get even. It would have been very fitting to take on Logano at another 1.5 mile track like Kansas and get payback in the second race of the round, again like Kansas. Kenseth did not like what happened and I don’t blame him. I mean he (Kenseth) didn’t take him out, he junked him. “Do not wreck that boy”. It is not okay to do what Kenseth did to Logano last Sunday, however.
Logano, whose father Tom had to be restrained from going after Kenseth later, wasn’t buying that. The plan had to be moved up a bit because Logano was going to win.
In a pre-race interview the following week at Talledega, Kenseth said that Logano “should have stopped running his mouth, A, and No. 2, he’s lying when he said he didn’t do it on goal”. And the ordinarily calm, cool, and collected Matt Kenseth was not happy.
Joey Logano was leading at Martinsville with 45 laps to go – on his way to his fourth consecutive win.
Sunday’s race will be the 10th of 11 held this season on 1.5-mile tracks; the fourth in the Chase. But by holding his position, he caused a race-ending crash that had consequences for other drivers. But NASCAR executive vice president Steve O’Donnell labeled his actions as “disappointing” after the race. This time, it’s impossible to prove that Harvick deliberately turned right into Bayne to save his season.
France told Sirius XM NASCAR radio the sanctioning body will correct the current climate.
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“There’s going to be contact and there’s going to be somebody who had a lot on the line [such as] in Matt’s case in Kansas where you just simply get the absolute short end of the straw”, France said.
