So strong and decisive action was needed, and that’s what we got from NASCAR.
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But Kenseth’s actions have created the most noise, and clearly didn’t sit well with NASCAR brass. Each sport has it’s own ethics that the athletes or participants follow, and NASCAR is no different.
NASCAR missed that opportunity on Tuesday. All he has to do is win one of the next three races – and this stretch includes Phoenix, where he’s won four straight and five of the last six – to advance to the championship. The “quintessential NASCAR” line he delivered about Logano’s move at Kenseth was a mistake because it implied that actions, if they help a driver win a championship, don’t have consequences. Matt Kenseth took it on the chin.
‘Matt Kenseth, the driver of the No. 20 vehicle, has been penalized for an infraction that occurred during the November 1 race at Martinsville Speedway. I don’t condone what Kenseth did, but I understand it. Kenseth, who felt like he was robbed at Kansas gave Logano a little taste of his own medicine. He had been carrying the grudge for two weeks and everyone expected him to act. Kenseth said the Team Penske driver was lying. “Matt Kenseth is in that same category”, said former teammate Jamie McMurray. “Matt races everyone fair and he races hard”.
Then so be it, too, for Danica Patrick. Patrick has been fined $50,000 and docked 25 points as a result.
So beside the obvious championship implications, what is the difference? Kyle Busch, mentioned earlier this week that the name on the side of the door decides the penalty. Jones, 19, leads the Camping World trucks series. The right front was dragging down there and probably should’ve went to the garage area and went into the corner there and man couldn’t get it to turn and collected him. Or the one Kevin Harvick caused the week before at Talladega?
“It’s frustrating”, Logano said. That’s going to happen depending on what end you’re on. You’ve got to be consistent. I feel like none of that happened and instead it was kind of a ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry about your luck. I think that was a pretty clear message beforehand. “Sure, when people crown the statement that a driver’s doing what he’s got to do and they became OK with that statement, you’re just opening up Pandora’s box”.
“It’s a no-holds-barred wild, wild West”, noted Denny Hamlin after Martinsville.
Now with his Chase berth clinched and all the Hendrick Motorsports resources behind him at Homestead, Gordon is more than someone with simply a chance to win the Sprint Cup, but a favorite to walk off a champion.
And just this week it was the same Brian France who declared “this is the style of racing we have; there’s contact in this style”. 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.
NASCAR instituted its unwritten “boys, have at it” code in 2010, allowing drivers to settle differences amongst themselves with minimal intervention from competition officials. It’s a bad statement.
Payback has always been accepted and appreciated.
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The next time NASCAR might not be so lucky.
