It's been a while since I've wrote about NASCAR on my website. It has been hard to find the time to write about the sport of NASCAR that I love and I have missed the opportunity to write about a good many things this year. Today, though, I'm going to change that. I hope to take advantage of writing some more to end this year and throughout the 2016 season. The reason I'm writing today is because of what happened in Martinsville, Virginia Sunday afternoon. So far, we have been through two rounds of the Chase: the Challenger Round and the Contender Round. The Challenger Round was filled with action as Denny Hamlin went on to win and advance at Chicagoland after spinning early in the race. At New Hampshire, Matt Kenseth punched his ticket to the Contender Round with a victory. More on Kenseth here shortly. In the final race of the Challenger Round at Dover, Kevin Harvick, who blew a tire and crashed at Chicagoland after contact with Jimmie Johnson, won a must win race to make his way into the Contender Round and keep his drive for a second consecutive championship alive. The Contender Round had a single winner in three races: Joey Logano. Logano won at Charlotte, then at Kansas, and then he closed out the round sweep at the massive Talladega Superspeedway. It wasn't all easy for him, though. At Kansas, Logano was running second behind the driver who had led the most laps in the race, Kenseth, with five laps to go. Kenseth desperately tried to hold off the Charlotte winner with a few blocks, but Logano was having none of it. He bumped the leader with five laps to go and the driver of the Dollar General Toyota found himself spinning and without a win in order to move to the Eliminator Round with a deep hole heading to Talladega. Let's just say Kenseth was not a happy man. At Talladega the next week, Logano battled hard all day with the present day King of Talladega, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Earnhardt absolutely dominated at Talladega, but on the only green-white-checker restart because of NASCAR's rule change before the race which stated the race would only have one of those restarts instead of the usual three, Kevin Harvick caused a questionable wreck and ended the race just as it restarted. At the time, Logano was barely ahead of Earnhardt and the 2015 Daytona 500 winner was in victory lane for the third straight time and the 2014 Daytona 500 winner did not move on to the next round of the Chase. That brought the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series to the Martinsville Speedway for the first round of the Eliminator Round where eight drivers were now left to battle for a spot in the Final 4 to battle for the championship at Homestead. What happened at Martinsville Sunday was something we have come to expect from the tight half mile track, but no one could have predicted how the wrecking and crashing and payback would affect the future of the sport.
Joey Logano came into the Eliminator Round with three straight wins and he quickly proved he would be a formidable force by taking the pole for the Goody's Headache Relief Shot 500 at the famed Martinsville Speedway. He was the early and often leader of the race. Drivers like Martin Truex Jr., Brad Keselowski, Kurt Busch, and others all made their way to the lead before the halfway point of the race, but Logano still continued to pass these drivers and lead the race at different points. Around lap 400, Logano was still a big figure in the race as he continued to work with his teammate, Brad Keselowski, to keep the two Team Penske drivers at the top of the running order. On lap 436, all of that quickly took a turn. On the restart following the fourteenth caution, Logano chose the outside line while his teammate lined up to his inside. Matt Kenseth, who had stayed pretty quiet all day, lined up behind Logano for the restart. As soon as the green flag dropped, Logano crossed over in front of his teammate heading into turn 1. Keselowski allowed him in and the two looked to run away, but Kenseth had other plans. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver slid his car to the outside of Keselowski and the two began to battle. Coming off turn two, Keselowski slid up into Kenseth and the two beat and banged exiting the turn when Keselowski had enough and spun Kenseth around. The spinning Dollar General Toyota spun down the track and Kurt Busch slammed into his nose, ending both driver's chances for a win. Keselowski did not get away without damage either as he had a flat tire and some suspension damage to his Ford. With that, three Chase drivers were involved in an accident, but the worst was yet to come for one.
In all of that, Joey Logano was able to drive away and not be a part of the big accident. He was pleased with that one the radio and he prepared for the restart once again. On this restart, he checked out on Jeff Gordon and looked to pull away for the win, depending on if a caution did not wave. About ten laps after the restart, Logano saw something in front of him that he did not want to see: Matt Kenseth. Kenseth's crew had managed to fix his damaged race car and he was back on track running a few laps to gain points, but still nine laps down. The tension was obvious for most of the field as the leader approached his recently made enemy. Going to complete lap 454, Logano passed Kenseth to the outside as the injured Toyota ran way slower compared to the blazing fast Ford. Kenseth, though, gained a lot of speed very quickly. Kenseth started bumping Logano heading into turn 1 and the Toyota driver did not even mash the brakes as he pushed the leader straight towards the wall. Both drivers plowed into the wall hard and both came to a stop on the race track, cars steaming and tempers steaming even more. To sum it up, Kenseth, the lapped driver, had just wrecked Logano, the leader of the race and competitor in the championship battle. The crowd roared at Martinsville as both drivers stayed in their cars in order to follow NASCAR rules about leaving crashed vehicles. Once the ambulances arrived, both drivers hopped out of their cars and entered the ambulances without a fight or any altercation. Still, Logano was mad and it was obvious based on his attitude outside of the car and on the radio. He had not only been cost a win, but he had been cost a chance at insuring he moved on to the final four at Hometead. This left both drivers certainly out of the race and Jeff Gordon inherited the lead. Gordon walked away with his first win of the season in his last season, but the story I want to talk about today is between Logano and Kenseth. Before I give my opinion, I want to discuss what I think both Logano and Kenseth were thinking during the race and previously to. First, we will start off with Logano.
To Joey Logano, everything that happened at Kansas was fair and in the past. When he bumped Kenseth with five laps to go at Kansas, it was strictly fair. Kenseth had blocked him on several occasions while leading, even putting him in the wall at one point. Logano got frustrated, bumped him with five laps to go, and took his second win of the Contender Round. It was something pretty much everybody had done before. Dale Earnhardt Sr. had done it plenty of times to “rattle his cage” and it was just racing. Because of that, Logano moved on and came into the Eliminator Round having won three straight races and it looked like Martinsville would be his fourth. He qualified on the pole and he led 207 laps when lap 455 came around. Now, at this position, he knew Kenseth had been wrecked. He knew his teammate had been taken out in it, but that still left his major road block and enemy out of the race. He felt safe. He felt like now he had no competition for this race and he would be moving on to race for the championship at Homestead. Then, he saw Kenseth out his front windshield. I believe the panic set in for Logano. He knew this was the place for a little payback. Martinsville is the slowest track on the circuit and Kenseth could bump him, wreck him, and pretty much do anything he wanted without a real problem. But Kenseth was nine laps down and there was just no way he would wreck the leader and mess up the championship. After he convinced himself of this fact, he went to Kenseth's outside and made the pass down the frontstretch. The pass was no big deal and he could see the driver of the Toyota enter his rear-view mirror. Then, he felt a little contact. Then, he felt a hard shove in the corner. Finally, he felt his race dominating car slam into the wall and he rolled it to the bottom of the track. Logano was livid. Not only had something that was past and gone completely hurt him, but he had missed out on winning a race and insuring he would be racing for the championship at Homestead. He handled it very well. He climbed out of his car, entered the ambulance, went to the infield care center, handled the media interviews about the incident, and returned to his car, hoping to run some more laps. But, I can promise you with certain fact, he put that incident in the memory bank and Matt Kenseth will certainly feel retribution for his actions sooner rather than later. Now, what was Kenseth's mindset after Kansas and then at Martinsville?
Kenseth started his narrative livid. He was leading the race at Kansas with five laps to go. This was his chance. He had a terrible Charlotte and finished next to last with only a win saving his Chase at either Kansas or Talladega. If he won this race, he knew he would be moving onto the Eliminator Round and would surely be battling for the championship after surviving that round. He did everything he could to keep that lead in the last few laps. He blocked Joey Logano fairly and held onto his lead without wrecking him. Plus, there was no reason for Logano to risk a car because he had won the previous week at Charlotte and was guaranteed to move onto the Eliminator Round. Logano wouldn't push it, would he? Kenseth felt like he wouldn't, but then he felt a bump going into turn 1. Then, he felt his car spin around. Then, he felt his race slip away. He didn't hit anything, but he needed fresh rubber and he would have to start at the back of the lead lap following the incident with only a couple laps to catch back up and win. Kenseth was livid. Logano had just wrecked him while he was leading for no reason and now, he was in a huge hold heading to Talladega, where everything was unpredictable. He finished fourteenth, but he now needed a win at Talladega to move on to the Eliminator Round and it was quite hard. In the end, he didn't win at Talladega and his championship was finished. It was all Logano's fault. This made him even more upset, but here came his chance: Martinsville. He had been running better there in the past few years and he could race Logano for position and show his displeasure. Throughout the race, Kenseth had been doing that. He was right near the front racing around Logano and just waiting for his chance. The restart after the fourteenth caution looked perfect. He got to Brad Keselowski's outside with only one driver in front of him: Logano. He saw his chance coming for some nice payback. He would be right there to battle Logano and, possibly, wreck him if he was afforded the opportunity. Then, he felt a bump. And then another bump. Finally, for the second time in three weeks, he felt himself spinning and getting slammed by another driver. This wreck was caused by Brad Keselowski this time, Logano's teammate. Now, he went from battling for second to having a very damaged race car. He was again livid. Logano caused this. Logano and Keselowski had been rigging the restarts all day and they had finally wrecked the guy they wanted to. Finally, Kenseth had enough. His crew got the car fixed and he had only one goal by returning to the track: find Logano and deal with him. He was very slow riding around the track and then he looked up in his mirror and saw his enemy coming behind. He finally had his chance. Logano passed him on his outside heading down the frontstretch to complete lap 454 and he made the most of his opportunity. Kenseth bumped him heading into turn 1, didn't touch the brakes, and plowed Logano straight into the wall, destroying both of their cars. He didn't care. A destroyed car or not, he had accomplished his goal: wreck Logano. Kenseth climbed from his car guilty for wrecking the leader, but so happy for unleashing payback and gaining a legion of cheering fans. In his mind, Kenseth had done the right thing and proved not to mess with him once again, which was what he wanted to do no matter what. After looking at both sides, I want to quickly discuss my side and conclude today's entry.
I believe Kenseth did the right thing in getting payback. What happened at Kansas on Logano's part was uncalled for. Matt Kenseth led that race fair and square and Logano never made a move to pass him. He just dumped the leader of the race and drove away like nothing happened. I truly think Logano was scared to see Kenseth win because he knew that the experienced veteran would be a challenge for the championship. So he just drove into turn 1 at Kansas, bumped Kenseth, and drove away for the win. To me, that is not how we should be racing. We should battle side by side and if the other guy is faster, try as hard as you can to work his inside or outside and make the pass. Drivers have to prove that they should win the race and they should do it fairly. Still, Kenseth picked the wrong time to get paybck. If the two were on the same lap and battling for position, he could easily bump him and it would be no big deal. Instead, he took the opportunity when Logano was leading and he was nine laps down with crash damage. No matter how angry you are, you can't wreck the leader if you are laps down. That isn't fair and isn't one of those racing deals. To conclude, I agree with Kenseth giving payback, but not the time he gave the payback. Today, though, NASCAR handed down a bogus penalty for Kenseth. I knew he would get one. I figured it would be the same thing as Jeff Gordon got for wrecking championship contender, Clint Bowyer, in 2012 at Phoenix, which was a $100,000 fine and a loss of 25 points. But, instead, NASCAR suspended Kenseth two races. That is complete and utter nonsense, really. Crazier and worse things have happened like Carl Edwards wrecking Bard Keselowski at Atlanta in 2010 where Keselowski almost flew into the fence and landed on the other side with the fans. Plus, Kyle Busch wrecked Ron Hornaday Jr. under a caution in the NCWTS race at Texas in 2011 and only received a one race suspension. Busch risked the lives of track workers going full speed under caution and he didn't get anything near what Kenseth got. NASCAR really needs to work on setting fair precedents, in my opinion. In reality, the only reason Gordon didn't get more of a punishment in 2012 is because of the name above his door and the amount of exposure he brings to the sport, but that is a discussion for another day. I hope you guys enjoyed this new idea I'm trying. I'm going to try and continue this for the race weekends to end 2015 and continue it in 2016. I'll pick a topic to discuss from the previos race weekend and you guys can expect to see it on either Monday or Tuesday, depending on time. I also have a couple other ideas floating around so watch out for those. Thanks for reading and you guys will hear from me again soon.
Credits:
-Videos of Brad Keselowski/Matt Kenseth Restart Crash and Matt Kenseth/Joey Logano Crash
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6K_Wjexick
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qn5uBJXKtm0
-Race Statistics:
http://racing-reference.info/race/2015_Goodys_Headache_Relief_Shot_500/W
-Image:
http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/1ed8c84a15c8b805c0083e6e818fdb8e58e9ac68/c=170-0-3829-2751&r=x513&c=680x510/local/-/media/2015/11/01/USATODAY/USATODAY/635820022867169351-kenseth-logano.jpg
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