Maybe they got it right in parking Matt Kenseth for the next two Sprint Cup races, beginning with Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Kenseth did so after his auto was severely wounded in an accident with Logano’s teammate, Brad Keselowski. Kenseth then appeared to intentionally wreck Logano who was the race leader at the time. “(Kenseth) was nine laps down, and eliminated (Logano’s) opportunity to continue to compete in the race.
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O’Donnell also cited the “premium on each and every race” under the Chase format as further reasoning for Kenseth’s suspension. “These actions have no place in NASCAR”.
The appeal will be expedited but no date announced yet, if it doesnt happen before Texas, Kenseth will still get to race.
The reality is, while the Gibbs team will appeal, this punishment hurts Kenseth not in the least.
Joe Gibbs Racing said late Tuesday that they would appeal the NASCAR penalty handed down Tuesday evening.
It also followed a highly debated incident at Kansas Speedway in which Kenseth was leading the race before Logano made contact with him spinning him out.
“The appeal will challenge the severity of the penalty which is believed to be inconsistent with previous penalties for similar on-track incidents”, JGR said in a statement.
None of the other Sprint Cup drivers seemed surprised that Kenseth retaliated.
Jeff Gordon went to victory lane in the Goody’s Headache Shot 500 advancing to the championship race at Homestead. “You can’t get run over”. It’s a tough sport. A few days you’re the bat, and a few days you’re the ball.
Speaking earlier Tuesday, NASCAR chairman Brian France was critical of Kenseth. “Obviously we won’t be accepting that”.
France asserted racing a driver hard had been recognized in the hardscrabble-through-milk-and-honey 67 years of NASCAR as the way to enact justice. “That’s NASCAR. But what happened on Sunday, that’s not quite the way that we would have liked to have seen that turn out”. He also noted that Logano has been the strongest driver over the last month and still has two races remaining to recover from Martinsville.
The sanctioning body has been reluctant to suspend drivers in general for in-race retaliation and even in the most egregious instances has typically only issued a one-race suspension.
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Kyle Busch intentionally wrecked Ron Hornaday Jr.in the truck race at TMS in 2011, and was parked for the Xfinity and Sprint Cup races later that weekend. “We don’t want any of our events to be altered in a way where they shouldn’t be”.
