Joey Logano found the reaction of fans cheering after his wreck Sunday,”disgusting.”
Meeting with the press today at Texas Motor Speedway, the driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford spoke on the previous week’s incident with Matt Kenseth that occurred with 47 laps remaining in the Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 at Martinsville Speedway. The reaction of the fans in the stands was overwhelmingly cheering that he was taken out.
“Was I surprised to see the fans reactions? Yes, I was,’’ Logano said. “I was disgusted by it.’’
Logano said that he will “look at the silver lining on this one.’’
“There were more No. 22 T-shirts and Joey Logano T-shirts and hats walking around when I was walking out of Martinsville, I noticed that,” Logano said. “There were more fans rooting for me now than ever before. That is pretty cool. Instead of listening to the critics and fans that may not like me, I am going to look at the silver lining and know that I have more fans than I ever had before and I appreciate every one of them. They are very good people. I feel like they are not the ones throwing things on the race track. I think they are stand up people and I appreciate having them wearing my T-shirt. That is something I want to have my name involved with, with people like that, and I appreciate having a lot of support on my side.’’
When Logano was asked if he thinks this punishment will change the way guys react when they are mad at each other, he said, “I think it will. I think it will for certain drivers and what you would do in those situations. I can’t speak for everyone in our sport, you know what I mean? I just worry about what I am as a race car driver, what our team is as a race team and I worry about that and how I would handle situations and knowing the consequences of it.’’
Kenseth, the driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) Toyota was suspended for two races by NASCAR on Tuesday. Kenseth lost his two appeals on Thursday. While JGR has not said who will drive the car at Phoenix, Erik Jones will drive it in this weekend’s AAA Texas 500 in addition to running in Friday’s WinStar World Casino 350 Camping World Truck Series race and Saturday afternoon’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge XFINITY Series race.
Matt Kenseth will not be in the car for the next two weeks.
The driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota lost his final appeal today. Bryan Moss, the National Motorsports Final Appeals Officer, upheld the two race suspension, but he amended the probation period from sixth months to Dec. 31.
In a statement from Moss, he said that he “heard and considered the appeal of a Behavioral Penalty issued on Nov. 3, 2015, to Matt Kenseth relative to NASCAR Sprint Cup Series vehicle #20 at Martinsville Speedway.”
National Motorsports Final Appeals Officer Statement (Nov. 5, 2015)
Today the National Motorsports Final Appeals Officer, Mr. Bryan Moss, heard and considered the appeal of a Behavioral Penalty issued on Nov. 3, 2015 to Matt Kenseth (driver) relative to NASCAR Sprint Cup Series vehicle #20 at Martinsville Speedway.
The penalty concerns the following sections in the 2015 NASCAR Rule Book: Sections 12.1 and 12.8.
The original penalty assessed included suspension from NASCAR until the completion of the next two NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events and placed on NASCAR probation for six months following the issuance of the Penalty Notice.
Earlier today, a three-person National Motorsports Appeals Panel heard the appeal and made the following decisions:
The Appellant violated the rules set forth in the Penalty notice;
The Panel affirms and upholds the original Penalty levied by NASCAR.
Upon hearing this afternoon’s testimony, the National Motorsports Final Appeals Officer made the following decisions:
The Appellant violated the Rules set forth in the Penalty Notice;
The Penalty is amended to: “Suspended from NASCAR until the completion of the next two NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship Events. Placed on NASCAR probation through December 31, 2015.”
The decision of the National Motorsports Final Appeals Officer is final and binding on all parties.
As a result of the outcome, Kenseth’s suspension begins immediately. He’ll sit out this weekend’s AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway and next weekend’s Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. Erik Jones will drive the No. 20 car this weekend.
Kenseth lost his first appeal earlier today when the National Motorsports Appeals Committee upheld the original penalty levied by NASCAR.
Kenseth was penalized for his actions that led to taking out race leader Joey Logano with 47 laps to go in this past Sunday’s Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 at Martinsville Speedway.
A NASCAR hauler was engulfed in flames en route to Texas.
A hauler belonging to HScott Motorsports was traveling westbound on Interstate 20 near mile marker 595 in Longview, Texas when hauler driver Michael Dennis Smith noticed smoke and pulled over. After inspecting, he saw that the trailer was on fire. He then detached it from the truck and pulled away.
The trailer was carrying two cars belonging to the No. 46 team of Michael Annett. HScott Motorsports said nobody was injured and they expect Michael Annett to race this weekend. However, according to Bob Pockrass, the trailer and the cars were a total loss and that a new hauler and cars are being sent from Charlotte.
Both HScott Motorsports cars and at-track equipment in Annett hauler that caught fire were lost. Team sending out cars/hauler now from NC
Longview and Kilgore officers responded to the scene and shut down the section of the interstate.
The cause of the fire has not been determined.
This all comes a day after a Richard Petty Motorsports Xfinity Series hauler carrying the No. 43 car of Dakota Armstrong was involved in a crash in Louisiana.
The National Motorsports Appeals Panel upheld the two-race suspension for the driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. The panel met today at 9:00 a.m. in the NASCAR R & D Center in Concord, North Carolina to hear the appeal of the penalty handed down by NASCAR on Tuesday.
The penalty stemmed from the incident with race leader Joey Logano with 47 laps to go in Sunday’s Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 at Martinsville Speedway. The penalty stated Kenseth violated sections 12.1 and 12.8 of the 2015 NASCAR Rule Book.
Upon hearing the testimony, the panel decided that the appellant violated the rules and upheld the original penalty levied by NASCAR.
Leave the car at home this weekend, hop on your trusty steed and ride out west because NASCAR is riding into the Lonestar State.
This week, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to Fort Worth, Texas for the AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. It will be the 34th race of the season, eighth of the Chase and second of the Eliminator Round.
I’m just going to say this up front. If you expect to see a good race at Texas, don’t. Speaking only for myself, Texas is near the bottom of my list of favorite tracks. I’ve seen very few races that could pass as good here. I’ve seen so much nothing here over the years that I’ve set my expectations for Texas at zero. The aero package we used this year didn’t make it any better.
The only thing that gives me hope that this will be worth watching is that it’s the middle race of this round. As we’ve seen the last two years, the middle race of the Challenger, Contender and Eliminator Rounds have the biggest water-cooler moments.
The powder keg erupted on pit road last year at Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington /Getty Images for Texas Motor Speedway)
New Hampshire last year had the second half wreck fest, Charlotte had the hauler scuffle between Matt Kenseth and Brad Keselowski and Texas had the pit road brawl involving Jeff Gordon and his crew fighting Keselowski and his crew.
This season we saw Kevin Harvick dominate Loudon before running out of gas with two laps to go and needing to win Dover to advance and then we had Joey Logano turning Kenseth to win Kansas.
Each race of this year’s Chase has given us moments to talk about for days (be it good or bad) and that alone gives me hope that Texas will be watchable.
Kevin Harvick will look to fire the six-shooters in Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington /Getty Images for TMS)
Kevin Harvick
Kevin Harvick enters the weekend at 9/2 as the odds-on favorite (Vegas Insider). While he’s been dominant this season, his stats at Texas are hit or miss. He’s finished in the top-10 in 52 percent of his 25 starts, has 13 top-10 finishes in 25 starts, but he has only finished in the top-five in 20 percent of his starts (five top-five finishes in 25 starts). He’s also only led 104 laps at Texas in his career and until this past April, he never led more than two laps in a single race. In his last two starts at Texas, Harvick has finished runner-up in both and led 96 laps when NASCAR was last in Denton County, Texas. Expect to see the driver of the No. 4 Chevrolet to be up front on Sunday.
Joey Logano will look to climb out of the points deficit he’s in. (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images for TMS)
Joey Logano
Next is the 5/1 driver that’s been on the biggest hot streak as of late, Joseph Tomas Logano. His stats at Texas technically aren’t stellar (only five top-five and five top-10 finishes in 14 starts) but his five races at Texas with Team Penske have been among his best of any track. In his last five races, he’s finished fifth, third, first, 12th and fourth. That’s an average finish of fifth. While he’s only led 159 laps at Texas, 129 of those were in the last five races. In the nine intermediate races this season, Logano has a 5.1 average finish. With a 37-point hole to dig out of and Phoenix being Harvick’s playground, expect the driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford to race like hell for the checkered flag Sunday.
Look for “Bad Brad” to make some noise this Sunday. (Photo Credit: Barry Albert)
Brad Keselowski
Next at 6/1 is Brad Keselowski. Like Logano, his career stats at Texas aren’t great. With only five top-10 finishes and three top-five finishes, you might be quick to write him off. However, in his last five starts, he’s finished ninth, sixth, 15th, third and fifth. That’s a 7.3 average finish. He’s led 273 laps in his career, 164 in the last four races. While he’s not toward the top of my picks to win, I’d expect to see him near the front Sunday.
Jimmie Johnson will look to fire off the six-shooters again this weekend. (Photo by Sarah Glenn/Getty Images for TMS)
Jimmie Johnson
Finally, we come to the driver who’s both 6/1 and the all-time wins leader at Texas Motor Speedway. His name is Jimmie Kenneth Johnson. In 24 starts, he’s finished in the top-five in half of his starts and 75 percent in the top-10. In the last seven races, he’s finished second, first, sixth, first, 25th, first and first. He’s also won the last three fall races at Texas, and in pretty dominant fashion. In the five races he led a lap in, he led no fewer than 128 laps. His laps led total in each race has been 156, 168, zero, 255, zero, 191 and 128. That’s an average of 128 laps. I know Johnson hasn’t been up front much since winning at Dover in May and he’s only led 41 laps since Daytona in July, but my money is on the driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet to continue his streak of being the only driver to have won at least one Chase race every year.
To find out who’ll fire off the six-shooters in victory lane, tune into the AAA Texas 500 Sunday at 2:00 p.m. on NBC. The radio broadcast can be heard on the Performance Racing Network and Sirius XM radio (subscription required). You’ll hear Doug Rice, Mark Garrow and Wendy Venturini in the booth, Rob Albright and Pat Patterson in the turns and Brad Gillie, Brett McMillan, Jim Noble and Steve Richards on pit road. The lineup is always subject to change.
Matt Kenseth’s appeal of his two-race suspension will be heard Thursday.
The driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota will go before the National Motorsports Appeal Panel in an attempt to have his suspension overturned Thursday at 9:00 a.m. in Concord, North Carolina. In the event that they lose the initial appeal and choose to appeal further, Brian Moss, the final appeal officer, will hear the final appeal, also on Thursday. The appeal process was expedited so that a determination could be made before the race this weekend.
Shortly after the suspension was announced Tuesday, JGR released a statement saying they would appeal the sanctions handed to their driver. They said they “will challenge the severity of the penalty which is believed to be inconsistent with previous penalties for similar on-track incidents” and that they would make no further comment during the appeal process.
Kenseth was suspended for two races after his role in an incident that took out race leader Joey Logano with 47 laps remaining in Sunday’s Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 at Martinsville Speedway.
Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR executive vice-president and chief racing development officer, said that the sanctioning body “concluded that the No. 20 car driver, who is no longer in the Chase, intentionally wrecked the No. 22 car driver, a Chase-eligible competitor who was leading the race at the time. The No. 20 car was nine laps down and eliminated the No. 22 car’s opportunity to continue to compete in the race.”
O’Donnell also said that NASCAR “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. These actions have no place in NASCAR.”
JGR has made no announcement in regards to whom would fill-in for Kenseth in the next two races.
The driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota is suspended from NASCAR Sprint Cup Series action for this week’s race at Texas Motor Speedway and next week’s race at Phoenix International Raceway. He’ll also be on probation for the next six months upon his return to NASCAR competition.
This all stems from his role in the crash that took out race leader Joey Logano with 47 laps remaining in last Sunday’s Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 at Martinsville Speedway.
NASCAR Executive Vice-President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O’Donnell said that the combination of Kenseth being nine laps down and Logano leading the race at the time of the incident factored heavily on the decision to suspend Kenseth. “In our minds, that’s a little bit different than two drivers really going after it coming out of Turn 4 for a win versus what happened tonight,” O’Donnell said following the race Sunday.
Joe Gibbs Racing issued the following statement announcing that they’ll appeal the penalty.
Danica Patrick was also penalized for attempting to take out driver David Gilliland during Sunday’s race. She was fined $50,000, docked 25 points and placed on NASCAR probation until Dec. 31.
It’s time to put a nice little bow on everything that happened yesterday at the Virginia paperclip.
This week, I’m going to do my rear-view post a little different. I’m going to do a driver-by-driver recap rather than a full race rundown. If you prefer one over the other, feel free to tell me in the comment section below.
Let’s start with the race winner Jeff Gordon. The driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet scored his 93rd career win after taking the lead from A. J. Allmendinger with 21 laps to go and also held off a final two-lap charge by Jamie McMurray to take the checkered flag.
“This is turning into one of those just incredible storybook finishes to this year, to this career,” Gordon said post-race. “Of all years, I mean, of all years, I cannot believe this. I’m so excited it’s happening in this year. That was clutch.That was huge.Yeah, we had a few things that fell in our favor.But you got to be there and be ready for that moment when it comes, and we were. Our car was pretty solid all day.Our restarts were pretty good.We fought through some things.Our car was good on the long runs.We were having to make some adjustments there.”
It was his ninth win at Martinsville Speedway, a track that’s been his playground since his rookie season in 1993. He finishes his career with 37 top-10s at Martinsville, tying Richard Petty for most top-10 finishes at Martinsville – and 29 top-five finishes. At the end of the day, it’s incredible what this man has done at NASCAR’s last charter track in 23 years of racing and it’s a shame yesterday was his last.
More importantly, Gordon now has a chance to ride off into the Florida sunset with his fifth championship in three weeks at Homestead-Miami Speedway. You couldn’t write this fairytale ending any better regardless of how it ends. With his career stats at Homestead, it’s a good bet that he’ll be a threat to win the title.
As hard as Jamie McMurray tried, he could only finish runner-up to Jeff Gordon at Martinsville. Todd Warshaw/NASCAR via Getty Images
Finishing runner-up to Big Daddy was Jamie McMurray. He put on his best performance of the season at a track that statistically has been his best. While he’s never won at Martinsville, it’s the only place he’s finished in the top-10 in over 50 percent of his starts (53.85 percent to be exact). If the outside line wasn’t the kiss of death at Martinsville, McMurray might have won the race. I base this on Gordon being notorious for bad restarts. Ironically, he said after the race that he wanted the outside line.
“When Jeff gave me the outside, I somewhat wanted that,” he said. “I struggled on the inside. Knowing it was just going to be a green-white-checkered, I thought I might be able to get around him. Honestly, it was really hard to see. I had like a light smoke visor on. It was hard to see with your visor up. When I shut it with one to go, it was really dark. I was a little bit nervous. I haven’t done a restart in the new restart zone. It was kind of hard to see where exactly the restart zone was. Had a lot on my mind there. I drove as hard as I could. Jeff was on the outside. His car stuck a little bit better than mine. I was hoping I could just get close enough to him down the backstretch that I could make some more drama for today versus what we already had. I spun the tires really bad off turn two and wasn’t able to get to his back.”
I’ve always believed that if the Ganassi cars could have a little more performance, he and Kyle Larson would win races on a more consistent basis. I also believe that next season will be the one where McMurray goes from being a journeyman to being a serious championship contender.
After being hit with two speeding penalties, Denny Hamlin rallied to a podium finish. Granted, frequent cautions and few lead lap cars allowed him to get back to the front more quickly, but to do that at Martinsville is commendable.
Kyle Busch battled back from early contact with Austin Dillon to finish fifth. Jeff Zelevansky/NASCAR via Getty Images
More and more, I’m continually amazed by the maturity that has taken over Kyle Busch. I remember last season at Bristol in August when Busch got busted for speeding and his night just fell apart. It climaxed with then crew chief Dave Rodgers telling him to “take your whiny little ass to the bus.” He then parked his car at the entrance to the garage area, got out of his car and got the hell out of Dodge.
Yesterday, he ran over a patch of water next to the curb, got loose, hit Austin Dillon and sent both of them spinning.
“We spun him out, spun myself out, had some damage to the car after that,” he said in his media availability. “Just didn’t quite feel right after. I’m not sure what bent, but something was definitely amiss on the front end.”
Instead of coming apart, he kept his eye on the prize and rallied to a fifth-place finish.
“Can’t say enough about our guys,” he added. “They did a great job. Come home with a top five. We’re thrilled with that and time to move on.”
Was there ever a time you could have seen Busch actually doing that or be glad that he got a good finish? This is the same Kyle Busch that not long ago would have responded to a runner-up finish with “yeah, but we didn’t win.” I don’t know if it was breaking his leg at Daytona in February or the birth of his son Brexton, but he’s truly become a more humble, likable driver.
There was also a career milestone for Anthony Wayne “Tony” Stewart. Just driving from last to a 10th-place finish at Martinsville is great no matter the driver. But this top-10 finish gave Smoke his 300th career top-10 finish in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. That’s a career average of 51.11 percent of his finishes being in the top-10. Given how his season – and honestly, his last three seasons – has played out, this is great for a man who’s retiring after 2016.
I’m not going to touch on the incident between Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano because for me to do so would be too hypocritical. But I will touch on the comments made by Hamlin.
“It’s a no-holds-barred, Wild, Wild West,” said Hamlin. “The structure…we have around us is not very strong as far as an authority figure saying, ‘No, you cannot do that anymore.’ I love Brian France, but when he says that drivers are ‘doing what they have to do,’ it seems like he’s promoting this type of racing. It’s tough to crown a true champion when things go like this.”
While Hamlin is entitled to that belief, I’m getting real sick and tired of these drivers saying they can’t police themselves and that NASCAR needs to do it for them. I think Dave Moody put it best with this statement. “Brian France and Mike Helton don’t drive race cars. Drivers do.These are grown men (and women) who can handle their own affairs, both on and off the race track. They do not need an ‘authority figure’ to teach them right from wrong.”
As much as I love Formula 1, I do get real tired of seeing the stewards like Charlie Whiting having to settle the disputes of grown adult men. I’ve always loved that NASCAR tends to let the drivers settle the matter among themselves and only step in when it goes a little too far.
That should just about do it for everything that happened at Martinsville. Next up, NASCAR heads to the Lone Star State to run the AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. That begins Sunday at 2:00 p.m. on NBC.
*The opinions expressed in this piece are solely those of the author and may not reflect the views of Speedway Media.
Jeff Gordon has punched his ticket for the Championship Race at Homestead-Miami Speedway with a win at the “Virginia paperclip,” Martinsville Speedway on Sunday.
After the race, Gordon joked that he wasn’t going to retire after this season, saying, “This is the sweetest, most amazing feeling. I am so proud of this team. You want to talk about holding back emotions; right now man, wow, we’re going to Homestead! I can’t believe it. What an incredible battle that was.”
He also acknowledged second-place finisher, Jamie McMurray, stating, “Those last couple of laps, I give a lot of credit to Jamie McMurray. He raced me hard and clean there. Oh, man, I’ll tell you it’s just never over. What a battle!”
The driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet held off McMurray on the final restart to score his 93rd career victory and ninth win at Martinsville Speedway. He was the beneficiary of what appeared to be Matt Kenseth intentionally taking out Joey Logano with 47 laps to go.
McMurray, although disappointed that he didn’t win, said it was a “great battle with Jeff. I have looked up to Jeff Gordon since I was a little kid. What a fun way on his last year to get to battle him like that. I wish we could have won. Had a great car just the inside was kind of the preferred line on those restarts.”
Denny Hamlin rounded out the podium with a third-place finish while Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Busch finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Newman, Kevin Harvick, Kasey Kahne and Tony Stewart rounded out the top-10.
Among the other Chase drivers, Carl Edwards finished 14th. Brad Keselowski, who led 143 circuits, finished 32nd after getting caught up in a wreck with 66 laps to go, a wreck that also took out Kenseth and Kurt Busch. Busch would go on to finish 34th. After leading 207 laps, Logano was taken out by Kenseth late in the race and finished 37th.
Gordon is locked into the championship battle in the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead in three weeks. Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. leave Martinsville tied for second, eight points back. Kevin Harvick leaves 10-points back followed by Carl Edwards (-17), Brad Keselowski (-34), Kurt Busch (-36), and Joey Logano (-38).
Here’s a recap of everything that happened Saturday at Martinsville Speedway in the second and final practice sessions for the Sprint Cup drivers.
Second practice
Dale Earnhardt Jr. was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 19.522 and a speed of 96.998 mph. Martin Truex Jr. was second with a time of 19.546 and a speed of 96.879 mph. Ryan Newman was third with a time of 19.547 and a speed of 96.874 mph. Joey Logano was fourth with a time of 19.571 and a speed of 96.755 mph. Denny Hamlin rounded out the top-five with a time of 19.576 and a speed of 96.731 mph.
Kyle Busch finished sixth followed by Matt Kenseth in seventh and Tony Stewart in eighth. Jimmie Johnson finished ninth with Greg Biffle rounding out the top-10.
Of the remaining Chase-eligible drivers, Kevin Harvick finished 13th, Kurt Busch finished 15th, Jeff Gordon finished 16th and Brad Keselowski finished 18th.
Carl Edwards was the lowest-finishing Chase driver in 20th.
Final practice
Johnson was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 19.500 and a speed of 97.108 mph. Harvick was second with a time of 19.578 and a speed of 96.721 mph. Keselowski was third with a time of 19.578 and a speed of 96.721 mph. Paul Menard was fourth with a time of 19.580 and a speed of 96.711 mph. Earnhardt rounded out the top-five with a time of 19.615 and a speed of 96.538 mph.
Casey Mears finished sixth followed by Logano in seventh place. Truex, Hamlin and Jamie McMurray rounded out the top-10.
Jeff Gordon finished 12th, Kurt Busch finished 19th and Carl Edwards was the lowest-finishing Chase driver in 21st.
