Matt Kenseth
Matt Kenseth’s racing team says it will appeal a two-race suspension handed down by NASCAR on Tuesday, for intentionally causing an accident that may have ruined Joey Logano’s chances of winning the Sprint Cup title.
Joe Gibbs Racing says the penalty is more severe than others in the past for similar incidents.
The Cambridge native was nine laps behind when he drove Logano into a wall last Sunday at Martinsville. Two weeks before, Logano made Kenseth spin, which led to the Wisconsin driver’s elimination from the Chase for the Sprint Cup with four races left.
NASCAR says Kenseth had no chance of winning last Sunday, and he intentionally altered the outcome of the race. It dropped Logano to last in the current field of eight, with only a slim chance of making the final four this weekend.
NASCAR chairman Brian France says a strong penalty is justified, because Kenseth should not have taken such payback into his own hands.
Danica Patrick was fined $50,000 for wrecking David Gilliland’s car on purpose in the same race.
I was always a fan of Matt until Sunday. Worse case of blatantly wrecking a competitor I’ve ever seen. But the kicker was when he and the crew chief on their radio said he blew a right front tire. At least Danica said on her radio that she was going to take Gilliland out. Joe Gibbs is a man of integrity and for his race team to appeal the suspension is a joke. I’d have more respect for Matt if he would have admitted that he wrecked Joey on purpose.