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Tag: Matt Kenseth

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Texas

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Texas

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Jeff Gordon: Gordon finished ninth in the AAA Texas 500, earning his 19th top-10 result of the year.

    “I was given two ponies by Texas Motor Speedway as a retirement gift,” Gordon said. “I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do with them. As a soon to be retiree, I reckon I will just put them out to pasture.”

    2. Joey Logano: Logano blew a left-rear tire on lap 4, and the resulting damage sent the No.22 to the garage for major repairs. He finished 40th, 60 laps down, and will need a win at Phoenix to be among the final four eligible to win the Cup at Homestead.

    “Matt Kenseth was not on the track,” Logano said. “I never thought this statement would ever be uttered, but ‘You take away Matt Kenseth, you take away all the excitement.’”

    3. Kevin Harvick: Harvick recovered from two blown tires to finish third in the AAA Texas 500. He is third in the Sprint Cup points standings.

    “I also had to keep my hand on the shifter,” Harvick said. “That was to keep the car from popping out of gear. That goes to show that when Kevin Harvick faces adversity, he overcomes it. That was the case at Dover—I was backed into a corner, so I backed into a wall.”

    4. Kyle Busch: Busch finished fourth at Texas and holds the second spot in the points standings.

    “Sammy Hagar gave a pre-race concert in the Texas Motor Speedway infield,” Busch said. “I believe he was staring straight at me when he sang ‘I Can’t Drive 55.’”

    5. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski started on the pole and dominated, leading 312 of 334 laps, but lost the victory when Jimmie Johnson passed him for the lead late. Keselowski is sixth in the points standings.

    “I’ll likely need a win to advance,” Keselowski said. “My Penske teammate Joey Logano faces the same situation. We could finish 1-2. If that happens, one of us could be taking it home, while the other would be going home.”

    6. Carl Edwards: Edwards finished fifth in the AAA Texas 500, posting his seventh top 5 of the year.

    “NASCAR suspended Matt Kenseth for two races,” Edwards said. “Matt seemed to be enjoying himself, sitting at home, watching the race, and sending sarcastic tweets. I don’t think NASCAR can suspend him for wrecking Twitter.”

    7. Martin Truex Jr.: Truex lost his power steering while battling for the lead late in the race, and managed to hold on for an eighth-place finish.

    “I’m fourth in the points standings,” Truex said. “If I hold that position, I’ll likely have a spot in the finale at Homestead. That would mean a lot for our team because the Furniture Row Racing team certainly deserves a seat at the table.”

    8. Kurt Busch: Busch finished seventh in the AAA Texas 500, and is seventh in the points standings.

    “I’m on the brink of elimination,” Busch said. “That’s what Joey Logano said when he saw Matt Kenseth behind him at Martinsville. It’s also what a soon-to-be-assassinated mark says when my ex-girlfriend Patricia Driscoll puts the crosshairs on the target.”

    9. Dale Earnhardt Jr: Earnhardt finished sixth at Texas, posting his 21st top 10 of the year.

    “I’ve got top-10 finishes in the last three races,” Earnhardt said. “And that reminds me, you should try Diet Mountain Dew’s new flavor, ‘2 Little, 2 Late.’ It’s bittersweet.”

    10. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson passed Brad Keselowski on lap 331 and won his third straight race at Texas.

    “I may not be eligible for the Cup,” Johnson said, “but a win is a win is a win.”

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: AAA Texas 500

    Surprising and Not Surprising: AAA Texas 500

    From deep in the heart of the Lone Star State, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 11th annual AAA Texas 500.

    Surprising: There apparently is a new super power in NASCAR called ‘Mega Turn’. At least that was the power bestowed on race winner Jimmie Johnson by runner-up Brad Keselowski.

    “The 48 car had mega turn that last run and I couldn’t keep the turn and it kept pushing real bad,” the driver of the No. 2 Wurth Ford Fusion said. “I did everything I could to hold him off, but he was way faster that last run.”

    “Their team did a hell of a job and found speed and my team did a hell of a job too. We led 300-some laps and these debris yellows always favor someone and it wasn’t our day for them to favor us.”

    “It was a hell of a race.”

    This was Keselowski’s sixth top-10 finish at Texas and his 23rd top-10 finish of the season.

    Not Surprising: Given the fact that rain washed out both Cup practices, the saying ‘When it rains, it pours’ was definitely applicable at Texas, especially for Chase driver Joey Logano. Not only did his tire blow early in the race but one of his crew members had hot oil pour out of the car onto his face, causing him to take a quick trip to the infield care center.

    While the crew member was treated and released, Logano finished 40th and is now solidly in the basement of the Chase race, 69 points behind leader Jeff Gordon.

    “Sometimes you just have to roll with the punches,” the driver of the No. 22 AAA Insurance Ford said. “This team is strong. We didn’t take any wind out of our sails today and we showed how fast this thing was even after we crashed. I am very proud of our team.”

    “It is unfortunate that we finished how we did.”

    Surprising: After a weekend that was not so classy, this week’s race was filled with at least a few moments of class, from Jimmie Johnson racing Brad Keselowski fair and square without incident for the race win to Martin Truex Jr. acknowledging some hard racing with Keselowski with a handshake after the race.

    “I just like to race guys clean anyway, the driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet said of Keselowski. “I kept working on him and working on him. He got real loose off (Turn) 2 and I had a big run off the top and I went for a big slide job down in (Turns) 3 and 4 and got the win.”

    And of the other classy act of the race, here is what eighth place finisher Martin Truex Jr. had to say of his close racing with Brad Keselowski.

    “We just rubbed a little bit there in the tri-oval,” the driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row/Visser Precision Chevrolet said. “No big deal at all. We were both racing hard. Good hard racing-rubbing a little. Rubbing is racing.”

    “It was fun.”

    Not Surprising: Although he is one of the younger drivers on the track, Erik Jones was spent and ready for some respite after running the third race of the weekend in substitution for Matt Kenseth in the No. 20 DeWalt Toyota.

    “I’m ready to take a day off, I don’t think I’ve ever run more than two races – the Truck and XFINITY race – in more than one weekend,” Jones said. “At this point, I’m feeling fine, but I can definitely feel it coming on. I’ll be worn out tonight.”

    “It was a fun weekend and I’ll do it again for sure next weekend. I’m looking forward to it, but it’s definitely busy and definitely hard on you. I’ll take a nice day off tomorrow.”

    Surprising: One would think that having two tires go down, as well as another shifter problem, would definitely have resulted in a near the bottom of the pack finish. Not so for one Kevin Harvick, who rallied back from all that to finish third in his No. 4 Budweiser/Jimmy John’s Chevrolet.

    “I’ve never had to drive with one arm that long,” Harvick said. “I had to pay a lot more attention. The hardest part was my arm started to go to sleep and I had to let off on it to get the blood flowing again.”

    This was Harvick’s 14th top-10 finish in 26 races at Texas Motor Speedway.

    Not Surprising: Even veteran drivers, including one in his last season, can continue to be a student of the sport. Of course, that continuing education is greatly enhanced when that driver is also already guaranteed a spot in the final four of the Championship Chase.

    “I thought we learned a lot this weekend,” Jeff Gordon, driver of the No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet said. “I think we certainly know that our cars are fast because our teammate won. At the same time, I think that we were here to execute and push hard, try to win, but also to just learn what we could. I thought we learned some stuff.”

    “Something good to build on and work on.”

    Surprising: While teammate Jeff Gordon was going to hug his teammate after the win, the two top finishing Toyotas were also actually cheering on competitor Jimmie Johnson for the race win.

    “For our situation, we wanted to see a guy that was not in the Chase win or a guy that we were racing right around us like the 78 (Martin Truex Jr.) and win the race,” Kyle Busch said after finishing fourth. “This M&M’s Crispy Camry was really, really fast today – just not fast enough. We fought hard, we did what we needed to do, we finished in the top-five and we got ourselves in a pretty good spot hopefully.

    “My guys never cheered so hard for Jimmie (Johnson), we needed that for the points going to Homestead,” Carl Edwards said after finishing fifth. “Our Sport Clips Camry – it was fast. It was really fast in the middle of the race. We were up to second and I thought we had something then it fell off at the end.”

    “This was a fun race to drive.”

    Not Surprising: Two drivers had some close encounters with the wall, with both manning up that it was due to driver error.

    “We had a good car and we were driving forward early and I got into the wall off four trying to pass somebody and cut a right front tire down,” Ryan Blaney, driver of the No. 21 SNAP-ON Tools Ford said. “Hit the wall pretty hard in one and two and ruined our day. It is all my fault. I hit the wall all by myself and ruined a very fast race car.”

    “I was having too much fun out there and got loose, three-wide after a restart and tagged the wall real good and bent the car up pretty bad and knocked the rear deck lid off of it,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. said after the race. “We got the chance to fix it and we just had a real fast car. I think we had the best car here. Just can’t hit the wall, but man we were just having fun, running hard. Got to do that every once in a while.”

    Surprising: Brian Scott continues to strut his stuff in the Cup Series. He had another top-15 finish, his second in his limited run in the series, finishing 14th in his No. 33 Shore Lodge Chevrolet. This was the first time in his Cup career that he has scored back to back top-15’s.

    Not Surprising: Demonstrating his dry wit and his own brand of humor yet again, Matt Kenseth won his own race, at least for one of the most re-tweeted Twitter postings after the race.

    “Good work @JimmieJohnson! Textbook pass for the win at the end of the race when someone is trying to take your lane. #quintessential”

  • Hot 20 – Kenseth to miss Texas and Phoenix after facing NASCAR justice (pending appeals)

    Hot 20 – Kenseth to miss Texas and Phoenix after facing NASCAR justice (pending appeals)

    Bad boy and bad girl. It would seem NASCAR is an equal opportunity disciplinarian, as both Matt Kenseth and Danica Patrick got slapped for aggressive driving at Martinsville. In short, they purposely ran into people with bad intentions.

    Gone for two, including the races in Texas and Phoenix, is Kenseth for taking out Joey Logano in mobster style last week. Nine laps down he plucked the front running Logano out of the mix and bulldozed him into the wall. As I write this, Kenseth is appealing his penalty, though I would be surprised if any change in his sentence is forthcoming.

    There are those hand ringers who figure this was an awful thing. I do not agree. In fact, I think I just became a Kenseth fan for life. The way I see it, all he did was tune in a mouthy little twerp who danced all over his accomplishment of knocking the former champ out of the way back in Kansas, robbing Kenseth of his best shot at continuing in the Chase. You do not celebrate causing another’s misfortune unless you want karma to come back and bite you in the ass.

    Now, you might suspect that I am no fan of Logano. That would be correct, but my feelings toward the man are based only on perception. If I knew him and ran into him on a weekly basis and could not stand him, that is one thing. The truth is, we have never met, and if I had the chance to sit down with Logano for a couple of hours over some adult pops, I might end up a fan of his for life, too. Instead, my feelings toward him, along with those of most of you, are based only on a perception, and that perception just leaves me ice cold.

    As for Patrick, her temper was anything but cold. It warranted her picking up a behavioral penalty for using her car to rearrange parts of that driven by David Gilliland at Martinsville. That cost her $50,000 and 25 points.

    Both penalties, by the way, are justified, though I do not condemn their actions. They felt they needed to do something, they did what they did, and now have to pay the piper. End of story.

    This column takes a break next week but returns to set the table as the boys and girl venture into Homestead to wrap things up for the season. Just in time to see the return of a certain bad boy to the track. My hero, at least for the moment.

    Our Hot 20 during the Chase, and only the Chase, to date include…

    1. JOEY LOGANO – 3 Wins, 265 Points
    Joey might be the best in the Chase, but Kenseth seemed more than able to chase him down.

    2. JEFF GORDON – 1 Win, 260
    Do you believe in fairy tales with happy endings?

    3. CARL EDWARDS – 257
    It has been seven years since he won his third at Texas.

    4. DENNY HAMLIN – 1 Win, 248
    Could have still been in the hunt himself except for Harvick’s actions at Talladega.

    5. MARTIN TRUEX JR. – 247
    If NASCAR is going all “wild west,” shouldn’t that well suit a team from Denver?

    6. RYAN NEWMAN – 231
    Being outside the Chase, he shouldn’t feel the need to repeat last year’s move at Phoenix.

    7. KYLE BUSCH – 224
    Four Top Fives, including a win, in last five attempts at Texas, bodes well for Sunday.

    8. BRAD KESELOWSKI – 221
    How things change. Just a year ago the Feud of the Week involved Brad and Jeff.

    9. KURT BUSCH – 217
    Can pick either Kenseth or Keselowski to blame for his tribulations last week.

    10. DALE EARNHARDT JR. – 215
    Jeff cheered for winning, Matt cheered for creaming Logano, Junior cheered for being Junior.

    11. KEVIN HARVICK – 1 Win, 214
    After Matt’s little adventure, we did not hear much from Harvick. Trevor Bayne wonders why?

    12. JAMIE MCMURRAY – 201
    Not a contender but he has become relevant.

    13. RICKY STENHOUSE, JR. – 196
    Not among the Top Twenty heading into the Chase, but some groundwork is being laid for 2016.

    14. KASEY KAHNE – 195
    Four Top Tens during the Chase, but 19th at Talladega, 24th in Chicago, dead last at Charlotte.

    15. MATT KENSETH – 1 Win, 185
    I once thought Matt was as boring as white bread…but not anymore!

    16. GREG BIFFLE – 185
    The worst season of his career still the best Roush-Fenway has this year.

    17. ARIC ALMIROLA – 184
    Ranked 17th on the season, 17th during the Chase events. Not great, but he is consistent.

    18. KYLE LARSON – 184
    Newman’s berth to Homestead last year went through Larson…literally.

    19. JIMMIE JOHNSON – 181
    Are we there yet?

    20. PAUL MENARD – 177
    He always wanted to have the same success as Jimmie, but this is not quite what he envisioned.

  • Kenseth’s Appeal Set For Thursday

    Kenseth’s Appeal Set For Thursday

    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.

  • BREAKING: Matt Kenseth Parked by NASCAR

    BREAKING: Matt Kenseth Parked by NASCAR

    Matt Kenseth has been parked 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.

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Martinsville

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Martinsville

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Jeff Gordon: Gordon seized his opportunity at Martinsville, taking the lead late and holding on for his ninth win at the Virginia half-mile track. With the win, Gordon will be one of four drivers vying for the Sprint Cup at Homestead.

    “I can certainly identify with Joey Logano,” Gordon said. “Because we both ‘owe’ Matt Kenseth.”

    2. Joey Logano: Logano was dominating at Martinsville and seemed headed for his fourth straight victory, till Matt Kenseth intentionally wrecked Logano with 47 laps left. Logano finished 37th, 42 laps down.

    “It was a total coward move by Kenseth,” Logano said. “And I should know—I’m all yellow.

    “I’m furious, and so is my father Tom. He was redder than a Martinsville hot dog. He was so irate, he had to be restrained. And speaking of ‘restraint,’ that reminds me of my first memory of my father, when he duct-taped to the seat of a go-cart and said ‘Drive.’”

    3. Kevin Harvick: Harvick led 38 laps and finished eighth in the Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500.

    “Once again,” Harvick said, “I made a move that kept my championship hopes alive. This time, however, instead of driving into the fray, I steered clear of controversy.”

    4. Kyle Busch: Busch finished fifth at Martinsville, and is second in the points standings with two races to go before the finale at Homestead.

    “I can’t wait to hear NASCAR’s response to the Matt Kenseth-Joey Logano incident,” Busch said. “In the ‘Boys, have at it’ age, and just weeks after Brian France used the term ‘quintessential NASCAR,’ it seems that NASCAR, just like Logano, was ‘asking for it.’”

    5. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin finished third at Martinsville, posting his 14th top-5 finish of the year.

    “I think we may need to look into updating the definition of the word ‘accident’ in this sport,” Hamlin said.

    6. Carl Edwards: Despite front-end damage suffered in an early accident, Edwards finished a solid 14th at Martinsville.

    “The crew did a good job of repairing the No. 19 Toyota,” Edwards said. “So good, in fact, that NASCAR wants some pointers on ‘damage control.’”

    7. Martin Truex, Jr.: Truex led 27 laps at Martinsville and finished sixth at Martinsville.

    “NASCAR won’t stand for this type of vigilante justice,” Truex said. “NASCAR fans, on the other hand, well, they’ll not only stand, they’ll give it an ovation, as well.”

    8. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski was collected in an accident that sent him crashing into Matt Kenseth’s No. 20 Toyota. Keselowski’s No. 22 suffered major damage to the suspension, and he limped home with a 32nd-place finish.

    “I did not wreck Kenseth on purpose,” Keselowski said. “No, that’s not me quoting Joey Logano from Kansas. That’s me being honest, and, let’s face it, apparently NASCAR drivers can only be honest when they haven’t wrecked someone on purpose.”

    9. Kurt Busch: Busch was collected in a wreck after Brad Keselowski made contact with Matt Kenseth, sending Kenseth’s No. 20 into Busch’s No. 41. Busch finished 34th, 14 laps off the pace.

    “This means I’ll probably have to win one of the next two races,” Busch said. “That puts me in the same boat with three or four other drivers. And speaking of boats, if Matt Kenseth would have done what he did in a boat, he would be ‘docked.’”

    10. Dale Earnhardt, Jr: Earnhardt finished fourth at Martinsville as all four Hendrick Motorsports drivers finished in the top 12, with Jeff Gordon taking the win.

    “Am I surprised that Matt Kenseth took out Joey Logano?” Earnhardt said. “Of course not. This is NASCAR, in which most of the races take place on oval tracks. Just take a look at the cars turning laps on those tracks, and you’ll realize it’s easy to see ‘what goes around comes around.’”

  • NASCAR Must Do Something on Tuesday

    NASCAR Must Do Something on Tuesday

    What I saw at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday made me sick to my stomach. It ruined what otherwise was a good weekend at the track, the marvelous speedway that should be a blueprint for what racing should be. Everyone knows the story by now. Matt Kenseth decided to retaliate and knock the leader out of the race—on purpose. You may say I can’t prove that, but actions speak louder than words.

    I’ve been following this sport longer than many people have been alive. I’ve seen retaliation, but nothing on this scale. I can’t remember an action that changed the entire championship situation just to get even. Before you say Dale Earnhardt did it or Carl Edwards did it, that is not the case. Earnhardt’s actions were usually going for a win. This was blatant and uncalled for.

    It all started last year. The altercations started when the usually mild-mannered Kenseth chased Brad Keselowski and put him in a headlock over relatively minor rubbing. Several drivers applauded that action and others against the opposition drivers. It started to boil when Kenseth was spun by Joey Logano at Kansas Speedway two weeks ago. Kenseth never got over it, said he wouldn’t talk to Logano, and continued with some pointed radio transmissions at Talladega. It was eating him alive.

    During Sunday’s race on a restart, Keselowski was tagged from behind trying to let teammate Logano get back to the lead and Kenseth got tagged. These were basically racing accidents, but Kenseth could not let it go and planned his revenge. In the later stages of the race, with Logano leading and pulling away, Kenseth took his disabled car back into the fray. Going slow, he waited until Logano passed on the outside and turned directly into him, shoving him up to the wall and destroying his Ford Fusion and probably taking him out of the championship picture. He used the excuse that a tire went down and he couldn’t turn his car. Sitting in the press box looking down on the track and the accident just below me, that wasn’t the case. It was revenge and something that should not be a part of the sport I’ve loved for a half century.

    NASCAR needs to act swiftly and put an end to this. Part of the problem is the elimination feature of The Chase. Drivers will do things that they probably wouldn’t otherwise, but this crossed a very narrow line. Kenseth should be parked this weekend at Texas, levied a hefty fine and docked championship points. This cannot continue if the sport wants to remain professional and draw fans. Larry McReynolds, who was crew chief for Dale Earnhardt simply said it best today on Dave Moody’s Speedway show on SiriusXM radio.

    “If they only give him (Kenseth) probation, which means absolutely nothing, I’m going to the nearest trash can and throw up,” McReynolds said.

  • Logging Laps: Breaking Point

    Logging Laps: Breaking Point

    We’re less than 24 hours removed from the race at Martinsville and there is once again a commotion in the media and in fan circles. Is it about Jeff Gordon punching his ticket to the chase playoffs in dramatic fashion? Nope. Is it about the risk versus reward of tires versus track position? Nope.

    All the social media and news outlets are abuzz about the Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano incident. The vast majority of which are already calling for penalties and suspensions to be levied against the driver of the No. 20 car.

    Give me a break.

    These are the same reporters that jump at a single quote taken out of context just to get views on their stories. The same people that cite “anonymous sources” from conversations with drivers to get “breaking news.” The same outlets that run drama-filled stories about minuscule things that have nothing to do with the competition of the sport they cover.

    You know what happened on Sunday? Competition and self-policing happened. You don’t believe me? Re-watch any of the videos from the race and watch the crowd reaction. What we saw was two men racing as hard as they could at Kansas, with one of them feeling wronged about the outcome. End result? That wronged man put things right again. The fans loved it.

    Why? Because this isn’t an isolated incident. This isn’t about a single spin at Kansas a few weeks ago. No, this was frustration and escalation of aggression on the race track that’s been spearheaded and created by none other than the Penske driver himself. Don’t believe me? Let me refresh your memory.

    It was the end of the Auto Club 400 in 2013 and the now famous incident between Tony Stewart and Logano on pit road. Stewart was upset by being blocked and run down onto the apron, effectively ruining his race and costing him a good finish. Result? Stewart has a physical confrontation with Logano on pit road. Why? Because Stewart hates being blocked. That’s not his code of racing ethics and how he wants to be raced. Logano, on the other hand, said, “It was the end of the race, and I felt like it’s what I had to do.”

    In Logano’s eyes, he felt that he had to block. It was his job to secure his position. However, it’s not simply limited to one incident there. As of now, the Penske driver has had no less than 5 well-documented incidents on track with different drivers in the last few years.

    Starting all the way back in 2010 at Michigan, Logano had an on-track incident with Ryan Newman. Racing for 15th place on the track, Logano gets loose under the No. 39 car of Newman and slides up the track, wrecking both drivers. After the race, there was a very animated and heated discussion about the incident.

        

    At the spring race in Bristol, 2013, Logano and Denny Hamlin get into an incident after the 22 of Logano makes a slide-job pass and block on the No. 11 car of Hamlin. Hamlin gives the 22 a bump and spins him off the corner. After the race, Logano goes over to the No. 11 car and proceeds to get into a shoving match with the 11 crew while expressing his displeasure at the still buckled in Hamlin.

    The next week at Auto Club Speedway, while racing for the win late, the 22 and the 11 make contact down the backstretch before entering Turn 3. Logano over-drives Turn 3, sliding up into the side of the 11 car of Hamlin, wrecking both drivers. This wreck resulted in Hamlin being injured after hard contact with the inside retaining wall. After the race, Logano infamously said of the accident, “That’s what he gets.” See 5:52 in the video.

    Even as recently as this year, Logano has found the ire of other drivers as well after an incident that I covered previously in this article here: (http://www.speedwaymedia.com/?p=91811). Questions were raised throughout the garage about the style of racing that’s being utilized on track by certain drivers.

    Flash forward to Kansas a few weeks ago and the roles are reversed. This time, Kenseth is doing exactly what Logano did years ago. He’s racing Logano the same way that he races everyone else on the track. That’s driver code, that’s how it’s always been; “I’ll race you the way you race me.” Logano spun Kenseth and went on to win, effectively ending Kenseth’s chances at a championship.

        

    Even last weekend, Logano, under green flag pit stops, threw a block on Kenseth which aggravated the Champion driver on the radio.

    So what happens this weekend? Kenseth raced Logano with the precedent that he himself had set years earlier. Simple as that.

       

    Even race winner Jeff Gordon had something to say about this whole entire series of events, “Had Joey handled that situation at Kansas slightly better … I mean, he was gloating about it. He was like, ‘Oh, yeah. That’s exactly the way I should’ve raced and he blocked me.’ That’s fine if you feel that way, but guess what? That’s not helping the situation and how (Kenseth’s) going to think about you and not even think twice if he gets in that scenario and in that situation. That’s what I learned in my situation with Bowyer. Yeah, I had regrets. I wish I’d handled it differently, but I also know my raw emotions came out and I reacted. But it’s how you handle it from that point moving forward as to what is going to help you get through it. That goes from both sides; from Joey’s side as well as from Matt’s side.”

    So, does that warrant a suspension and being parked until the end of the year? That’s not up for me to decide, but it’d be rather inconsistent if NASCAR did. I could give you a list five pages long of incidents where a driver wrecked another driver because he or she felt they had been raced outside of their code. It’s something we’ve seen for 60 years now. Drivers race each other the way they wish to be raced. For all the saber-rattling and media outlet crying foul and demanding action and penalties, they seem to have forgotten who started all this in the first place back in 2010.

    What short memories everyone seems to have. Everyone except Matt Kenseth.

  • The Final Word – Gordon wins but it is Kenseth with the knockout at Martinsville

    The Final Word – Gordon wins but it is Kenseth with the knockout at Martinsville

    There are things that matter. A retiring champion seeking to go out in a blaze of glory. A 25-year old looking to complete his career redemption as well as claim a fourth straight checkered flag. An elder statesman who believes that young man deserves something a bit different.

    Some things just do not matter. For example, in the XFINITY series, where Cup drivers have a second home, none of them matter except for a race winner and those actually running for a title. Same goes in Cup, as just eight drivers are eligible to try and chase down a championship. The winner always matters, no matter where they sit in the standings. As for the remainder, if you are not among the eight and did nothing to cause us to gasp, you do not matter.

    It did matter when Chaser Kyle Busch went for a spin at Martinsville after claiming to have found water on the track just before the midpoint. He tagged Austin Dillon and fell into the middle of the field. Same for Carl Edwards, who got into the back of A.J. Allmendinger in the same incident as the accordion effect took over. Both had points to gain, and definitely something to lose. It mattered, and it also gave us a break from the monotony that was Martinsville for much of the day. Much of it, but surely not all of it, as we were to discover.

    With 65 laps to go, a lot started to matter. Matt Kenseth got tangled up with Brad Keselowski and then got popped over to really pop Kurt Busch. It mattered that both Chasers had to go to the garage for repairs, and it mattered for Edwards, as the caution brought him back onto the lead lap. It mattered that Kenseth thought his last name was Hatfield, and Penske drivers were the McCoys.

    Revenge is best-served cold as Kenseth gave us our best gasp moment. Keselowski’s teammate, Joey Logano, the guy who had dominated the race, passed the battered Kenseth, who was nine laps down. Kenseth said on the radio he thought his right front must have gone down, but it appeared for all the world that he purposely hooked the leader and bulldozed him straight into the wall. Anything with a Penske stamp on it appeared to be a target, and one had to wonder if even the Captain himself was safe.

    Brian France thought Logano made a smart decision when he bumped Kenseth out of the way in Kansas. I wonder how smart he thought this hit was? Anyway, Matt got parked, as if his car or Logano’s was going anywhere fast after that. As to what the crowd thought of it, you would have thought Kenseth was an adopted Earnhardt with the ovation he received.

    It was almost anti-climatic that Jeff Gordon finally won in his swan song season. Almost. He was near the front most of the day, and was the best after Logano’s departure, leading the final 22 laps to claim his 93rd career victory. The crowd at Martinsville roared their approval as the four-time champ claimed a final four berth for the Homestead showdown on November 22. Gordon shall retire with wins in all but three of his 23 full-time campaigns; in 1993, 2008, and 2010. He wants just one more win in one specific race before heading off to become one of the sport’s most articulate ambassadors

    Amongst those who mattered, Rowdy overcame his earlier issue to claim fifth on Sunday, a position ahead of Martin Truex Jr., with Kevin Harvick in eighth. Edwards turned his return to the lead lap to a 14th place finish, but not that terribly far out of the running. As for Keselowski, Kurt, and Logano, they have some work to do.

    As for Kenseth, they do promote the Chase as having a knockout format. Well, at Martinsville, Kenseth knocked Logano out. After Kansas, did anyone expect anything less? It is now up to Logano, along with Keselowski and Kurt, to pull themselves off of the canvas to answer the bell at Texas and Phoenix beyond that.

    This column will not appear next week, but returns after Phoenix when we will know who will be joining Gordon in the battle for the championship. Who knows, maybe my return will come sooner than Matt’s.

    The Chase

    1. JEFF GORDON – Win
    2. KYLE BUSCH + 9
    3. MARTIN TRUEX, JR. +9
    4. KEVIN HARVICK +7
    5. CARL EDWARDS -7
    6. BRAD KESELOWSKI -24
    7. KURT BUSCH -26
    8. JOEY LOGANO -28

  • Is NASCAR Sending Mixed Signals?

    Is NASCAR Sending Mixed Signals?

    As the Chase for the Championship heats up, sparks continue to fly on the race track with aggressive driving and questionable tactics.

    Events began to escalate two weeks ago at Kansas Speedway Joey Logano bumped race leader Matt Kenseth spinning him out of the way to claim the win, an incident that directly contributed to Kenseth’s elimination from the Chase. Logano deemed it “good, hard racing,” and insisted that he didn’t intentionally wreck Kenseth.

    Kenseth had a different point of view and said that he was “really disappointed,” in Logano’s actions on the track, adding “That’s not the way I race people no matter what the stakes are.”

    NASCAR chairman Brian France discussed the contact between the two drivers on SiriusXM Radio’s NASCAR channel the following Monday.

    “That’s quintessential NASCAR,” France said.  He went on to explain his position stating, “Late in the race, I think that’s a great example of everybody doing probably exactly what they should be doing. You had Matt Kenseth trying to block and hold his position. He had a faster car behind him, and when you block, you risk that somebody is going to be in that position and there was contact.”

    France went on to say that Logano “made a very smart decision in what he did because not only did he try to win the race, which he said he wanted to do and obviously he did, but the idea to, late in that race, to have an opportunity to put one of the top teams on the outside looking into the next round in Matt Kenseth, (who) has run so well, that’s a smart thing to do.”

    “You have to give them a lot of credit,” Franc continued. “This is the strategy that we all thought was going to be different when you have this kind of format. But it does reward aggressive racing at the end of the day.”

    The message seems clear; aggressive driving is not only expected but encouraged in the Chase format. It also begs the question of where is the line drawn?

    Last week at Talladega Superspeedway, controversy arose again when it appeared that Kevin Harvick intentionally caused a wreck at the end of the race to freeze the field and lock in his points, ensuring his inclusion into the next round of the Chase.

    Harvick denied the allegations and after a review of the race, NASCAR stated that they had “completed the review of any other potential penalties from the track (Talladega) this past weekend and there will be no further actions.”

    NASCAR’s decision and Harvick’s assertion of innocence were met with skepticism by many after viewing video footage from his in-car camera that show him turn his steering wheel to the right as he clips driver Trevor Bayne’s car, causing the accident. Harvick, who had a failing engine, maintains that he did not see Bayne and was attempting to get out of the way.

    Again, the message seems clear as drivers do what they must, to compete for wins and the championship with no repercussions from NASCAR. But Kenseth may have crossed the line Sunday at Martinsville Speedway.

    Kenseth was competitive at the short track Sunday, but his day turned sour after he sustained significant damage to his car after contact with Brad Keselowski on Lap 434. Twenty laps later, Logano’s day effectively ended when Kenseth hit Logano, turning him into the wall. Logano ended the race in 37th place and is now in eighth place in the Chase, 28 points behind the leader. NASCAR parked Kenseth for the remainder of the race.

    While he didn’t admit to purposely wrecking Logano, Kenseth’s comments imply that he felt it was important for him to respond to the events of the last few races.

    “You never like to be in these situations,” Kenseth said. “They really stink, to be honest with you, but sometimes you get put in these spots, and you’ve got to try to keep respect in the garage area. You can’t get yourself ran over.

    “You can’t get in the Chase next year and get ran over for the same reason. Like I said, hate the way it ended. Wish we were out there celebrating or having a shot for the win like we did before we got wrecked, so a disappointing day.”

    Did Logano intend to wreck Kenseth at Kansas or simply move him out of the way? Logano is the only one who can answer that question. Harvick’s actions at Talladega may seem questionable, but it is difficult to ascertain his motives with any certainty. If you consider the first two instances, should Kenseth also get the benefit of the doubt for the contact with Logano at Martinsville?

    After listening to executive vice president Steve O’Donnell’s comments after the race, it is likely that Kenseth may face penalties from NASCAR.

    “I think in the case with Matt,“ O’Donnell said, “we were certainly disappointed with what took place tonight on the racetrack. We had a conversation with both Matt, crew chief, Joe Gibbs. Like we always do, there’s still a lot to digest from what happened tonight. We’ll do that. We’ll have some additional conversations and probably come out with something, if there is anything to discuss, on Tuesday”.

    Whether you believe the wreck was intentional or not, there is no definitive proof to back up either claim or to establish intent. But Kenseth, who is no longer in contention for the Chase, may have committed the one mistake that NASCAR won’t ignore; taking out someone contending for the championship. If NASCAR penalizes Kenseth, are they establishing two sets of rules – one for Chasers and one for non-Chasers? Or were Kenseth’s actions simply too blatant to ignore?

    Given the atmosphere of aggressiveness that NASCAR has fostered, Kenseth may have felt he had no choice but to respond in kind.