Kenseth Suspension Doesn't Quite Send the Right Message

Matt Kenseth has been suspended from NASCAR competition until
Homestead weekend (Google Images)

On Tuesday night, NASCAR dug itself into a pretty big hole and it doesn't appear many fans are keen to throw them a rope and help them get out.

Following Sunday's antics in Martinsville, capped off by an emotional victory for Jeff Gordon, the sanctioning body elected to suspend driver Matt Kenseth for the next two Sprint Cup Series events at Texas and Phoenix. Kenseth and Joe Gibbs Racing appealed the severity of the penalty, but lost both hearings. Now, Kenseth has been benched through the season finale at Homestead while truck and Xfinity Series standout Erik Jones fills in in the No. 20 Camry.

Many industry insiders and media members will make this out to be a black eye for the sport, but for many fans this was a self-inflicted injury for the sport of stock car racing. NASCAR has a long history of over-policing its drivers and, to paraphrase Kyle Busch, an even greater history of being "consistently inconsistent" when making judgment calls. Busch, Kenseth's teammate at JGR, proclaimed in his post race press conference at Martinsville that Brian France and other NASCAR heads have a nasty habit of playing favorites.

"Did [Matt] do anything wrong? I don't know. Did he do anything right? I don't know," Busch told reporters. "I think it all depends on whose name's above the door on whether or not you're allowed to do it." He told reporters it only matters which drivers are involved and who does what to who. "You got to be consistent. I definitely feel NASCAR is very consistent in being inconsistent on calls." Fans and drivers alike have bemoaned NASCAR for not enforcing it's rules and the sanctioning body has been accused of making rules as they go because of it. Everything from restart rules to debris cautions to pit road speed has been questioned this season and there is a severe amount of distrust between the fans and the sanctioning body.



The moment that might net Matt Kenseth (20) the Most Popular Driver
award this year (Google Images)

Busch has never been one to mince words and he went on to say what many fans are probably thinking about the Kenseth call.  "I think it's 'BS,'" he told reporters.  "[NASCAR] better - I say 'They better', but they don't have to listen to me for squat. Really doesn't matter what I say." He was also asked if he felt he'd be racing in Texas if he had done what Kenseth did. Busch simply replied, "Nope."

Busch has felt the wrath of NASCAR before following an altercation with Ron Hornaday in the fall 2011 truck race at Texas. But Busch also has more of a history of losing his cool inside the car, while Kenseth has always been known as a David Pearson-esque driver. He tends to just ride and stay out of trouble, then strike at the end of the race.

The Kansas incident was spark that ignited this firestorm, Logano's big mouth after the fact was what turned it into a five alarm blaze. Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr both said that had Logano kept his mouth shut in victory lane, this could have been a smaller incident. But instead, Kenseth gave this response to NBC's Mike Massaro and we got the sense this might not be over. Then Logano cut Kenseth off getting onto pit road and Kenseth warned the Penske driver to go "hide behind his daddy," a jab at the fact that Logano's father, Tom, usually attends races and tries to fight his son's battles for him. Then Brad Keselowski wrecked Kenseth at Martinsville. The team claimed it was a broken tie rod, but it was likely to protect Logano from any kind of payback.

You can watch the entire Martinsville incident here. Driver reactions start at around the 6-minute mark. Don't e surprised if Kenseth garners an Oscar nomination for his performance.

Three weeks in a row, three run-ins with Team Penske, two potential wins taken away and one chance at a title ruined. Nobody can blame Kenseth for losing his cool and trying to even the score. According to NASCAR, Kenseth was suspended because he "altered the outcome" of the championship fight by taking out Logano. But didn't Logano end Kenseth's title hopes by dumping him at Kansas? What about getting dumped by the No. 2 at Martinsville?




One fan took his love for Matt Kenseth to another level with this
custom-made diecast (Google Images)

France deemed Logano's actions at Kansas "quintessential NASCAR." But drivers have been wrecking each other since the beginning of time and that's become a part of the fabric of the sport. Even Dale Jarrett was pushed to his limit at the Bristol night race in 2005 when he punted Ryan Newman as retaliation for an earlier spin. And with the win at all costs style of the new Chase format, it allows for scenarios like this to play out. Kenseth saw his shot at a title go away in one corner of one race and he did the same thing to Logano, plain and simple.

NASCAR needs to take a look at the Chase format and stop looking at scenarios like this on a case by case basis and analyzing which drivers are involved and where they are in the points. They need to stop playing favorites and, like Busch said, simply enforce the rules. If they want to have a "boys have at it" mentality, then let the drivers police themselves. If they want to be in  control of every facet of the sport and rule with an iron fist, then the next time someone tries to retaliate we should expect them to be on the bench for a few races. It's that easy.

Judging from the amount of cheers Kenseth got at Homestead during driver intros, it would appear that a rather large majority of the NASCAR community probably shares this opinion.