NASCAR suspends Matt Kenseth for two Sprint Cup races – USA TODAY
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NASCAR has suspended Matt Kenseth for the incident on Sunday with Joey Logano at Martinsville Speedway.
USA TODAY Sports
NASCAR sent a strong message about intentional wrecking Tuesday evening, suspending Matt Kenseth for two Sprint Cup races following his blatant wreck of leader Joey Logano during Sunday’s race at Martinsville Speedway.
Kenseth will not be allowed to compete this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway or the following week at Phoenix International Raceway, becoming the first driver in memory to be parked for multiple races as the result of an intentional wreck.
The penalty also makes Kenseth the first driver to be suspended for an on-track incident since Kyle Busch in 2011. The 43-year-old’s streak of 571 consecutive starts — second only to Jeff Gordon among active drivers — will end Sunday.
NASCAR executive vice president Steve O’Donnell said Kenseth intentionally wrecked Logano and noted the latter driver was still competing for a championship, which played into the decision.
Kenseth “eliminated the No. 22 car’s opportunity to continue to compete in the race,” O’Donnell said. “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. These actions have no place in NASCAR.”
NASCAR also placed Kenseth on probation for six months. Joe Gibbs Racing released a statement indicating it would appeal the decision.
“The appeal will challenge the severity of the penalty which is believed to be inconsistent with previous penalties for similar on-track incidents. There will be no further comments from JGR personnel during the appeal process.”
The three-member National Stock Car Racing Commission panel will hear the appeal, and NASCAR will request an expedited hearing once it receives formal notice of the appeal.
Logano’s team also issued a statement Tuesday evening.
“While the events that transpired at Martinsville Speedway were certainly disappointing for both of our teams, Team Penske remains focused on and working towards winning this weekend’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway and the following race at Phoenix International Raceway in hopes of getting both Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski into the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.”
In addition, NASCAR announced Danica Patrick would be fined $50,000, docked 25 points and placed on probation through end of the season for intentionally crashing into David Gilliland. This penalty was less severe, NASCAR indicated, because Patrick didn’t pile-drive Gilliland into the wall and Gilliland wasn’t in the Chase or in the race lead.
At Martinsville, Kenseth was involved in a restart incident with Team Penske teammates Logano and Brad Keselowski. The veteran driver for Joe Gibbs Racing believed Keselowski hit him on purpose — something Keselowski denied — and decided he’d had enough.
Kenseth was still stewing from a crash two weeks earlier at Kansas Speedway when Logano sent him spinning while the two raced for the lead. (Logano already had qualified for the third round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup via his win at Charlotte, but the wreck put a major dent in Kenseth’s chances of advancing to the next round of the 10-race, four-segment elimination that decides the champion at stock car racing’s highest level. He was booted from the Chase the following week at Talladega Superspeedway). So Sunday, Kenseth slowed his damaged car on the track and waited for Logano to catch him.
Despite being 10 laps down, Kenseth accelerated and drove Logano’s car straight into the Turn 1 wall — destroying both vehicles. Fans roared their approval for the payback, while NASCAR immediately parked Kenseth for the remainder of the race. Logano was denied a victory that would have punched his ticket to the Nov. 22 four-driver winner-take-all finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Afterward, Kenseth said his crash was caused by a flat tire. But NASCAR executive vice president Steve O’Donnell labeled his actions as “disappointing” after the race.
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In the two days that followed, the NASCAR world was divided on what the punishment for Kenseth should be. The majority of fans in several online polls conducted by various media outlets did not want Kenseth suspended and called for a light penalty — or none at all — and cited NASCAR’s “Boys have at it” approach to discipline.
But others said NASCAR needed to come down hard on Kenseth in order to send a message and prevent the races – especially in the Chase, where tensions and pressure to perform run higher and higher – from becoming the “wild, wild West,” as Denny Hamlin defined them after Martinsville. Kenseth himself said a week earlier that NASCAR had lost control of the racing.
Though the Kenseth incident stood on its own as a rare occurrence given its relevance to the championship, intentional wrecking is hardly unprecedented.
The closest situation to Martinsville was when Jeff Gordon wrecked Clint Bowyer at Phoenix International Raceway in 2012, resulting in a $100,000 fine, 25-point penalty and probation. Gordon was not suspended.
Another similar circumstance occurred when Kyle Busch wrecked Camping World Truck Series title contender Ron Hornaday at Texas Motor Speedway in 2011. Busch was then suspended for the rest of the weekend, which included Sprint Cup and Xfinity series races.
Earlier Tuesday, NASCAR chairman and CEO Brian France said officials simply could not accept having a driver get revenge with an intentional crash of the leader.
“We don’t want that to happen again,” France said. “We don’t want any of our events to be altered in a way they shouldn’t be.
“What we want to prevent happening is drivers or any participant in NASCAR to take matters into their own hands and begin to control the outcome of races beyond hard racing. When that happens, that’s a very serious thing for us. And we’ll be dealing with that.”
Follow Gluck on Twitter @jeff_gluck
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