Joey Logano's Tap May Have Been Matt Kenseth's Death Blow in NASCAR Chase
The goal of any driver is to win the race he's running.
In Sunday's Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway, Joey Logano was successful. He certainly wasn't worried about Matt Kenseth's feelings or the implication a fracas between the two had on Kenseth's hopes for a second Sprint Cup championship. The spin Kenseth's Toyota took as a result damn near killed them.
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"He ran me hard; I ran him hard back," Logano said in the winner's media conference. "That's just the type of driver I am, the type of racer I'm going to be. ...It's unfortunate that those things happen, you know, and it's just hard to...it doesn't take anything away from our win."
Logano won the Chase for the Sprint Cup's fifth race of 10, second of three in Round 2, and deemed it good, hard racing. Kenseth, whose Toyota also ran well the week before at Charlotte and also wrecked there, thought Logano crossed an ethical line.
It's the same as TV reruns. The Skipper has his version, and Gilligan has his.
"It's hard to drive a car with the rear tires off the ground," Kenseth said to NBC Sports, meaning that the hit from Logano's Ford was hard enough to do that. "[My spotter] told me I was clear and I was. I pulled up in front of him, and he just lifted my tires off the ground and he wrecked us.
"I'm one of the only guys that I think hasn't been into it yet with Joey, and I've always raced him with a ton of respect. I've actually been one of his biggest fans. I'm certainly not anymore, but I always was. It's a shame..."
Kenseth led 153 laps. Logano led 42. As the end neared, it was apparent no one else could touch them.
As often happens in Chase races and most others, a reservoir of civility and sportsmanship for 261 laps broke through its dam to become a roaring flood in the final eight.
Kenseth appeared to be in control until encountering traffic that gave Logano a chance to close in. Logano's yellow Ford went to the outside. Kenseth's yellow Toyota moved in front of him. Yes. To block.
"[Logano] just plain wrecked me," Kenseth said. "He cries on his radio a lot, I guess, about blocking or moving around, but, man, you're leading the race and you can pick whatever lane you want. It's not like he was alongside of me.
"To wreck somebody for being in a lane that you wanted to be in seems kind of risky and not very smart. That was a decision he made."
Not that anyone would care about money in professional sports, but first place paid $377,023 and 14th was worth $152,880.
So there was that.
One of the more respected men in American racing, Roger Penske, is Logano's boss. He has often had to bring his considerable charm and tact to bear in defense of his two young, aggressive and talented drivers, Logano and Brad Keselowski.
Penske has it down. It's old hat, not like those brand-new caps used for interminable photo shoots in Victory Lane.
Of Logano and Kenseth, Penske said, "Unfortunately, they got together. I don't like to see that any more than anybody else does. It's one of those racing accidents that's real tough when it's in this kind of situation, but there was no question that Kenseth was doing everything he could to keep Joey from going by."
In terms of personal advancement, Logano's fifth victory of the season served no practical purpose other than the money and attention. His Charlotte victory automatically advanced him into the third round, which begins in two weeks. The eight drivers left will start even in points.
Logano tied Kenseth as the season's leader in victories. One or the other has won eight of the last 11 races. What would enhance Logano's championship hopes is the exit of Kenseth from the field.
It's a bit of a stretch to suggest that Logano, riding on Kenseth's bumper at 180 miles per hour, could be that calculating. He had been frustrated by Kenseth's tactics. He wasn't of a mind to cut the man between him and victory a break. Logano went for the win. It's what he's supposed to do. When Kenseth ran up on slower traffic, Logano pounced.
"I don't see this as being any different that what we typically see," Logano said. "We're both out there. We want to win, right? Our goal is to go out there and win the race. That's what our jobs are.
"You want to win the race. That's part of the strategy when you go to this round, or really any round, is to win as often as possible to keep your competitors out."
| Driver | Wins | Top 5 | Top 10 | Avg. Finish |
| Joey Logano | 5 | 19 | 25 | 7.9 |
| Matt Kenseth | 5 | 12 | 19 | 13.4 |
Forty-second at Charlotte put Kenseth's back to the wall. Fourteenth on Sunday left him facing a firing squad. Now, unless something truly cataclysmic occurs next week at Talladega, where cataclysm sometimes does, Kenseth must win there in order to advance. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is navigating similar straits, but he won the race at that track earlier this year and is notably adept there.
Kenseth has won once there. Earnhardt has six Talladega trophies.
"I wouldn't rather be going anywhere else than Talladega for the next race if we need a win," Earnhardt said. "That is a good opportunity for us. Even over Daytona, I think we can go to Talladega and do the job.
"There is a little more room there to be aggressive and make the moves you need to make. I got the car."
Sounding a bit weary of it all, Kenseth said on TV, "It's the same. There are some things you can control and some you can't. I thought we did an excellent job this weekend of controlling the things we could control.
"We did everything as a team to win the race. Just couldn't get away enough to keep [Logano] from pulling that move on me there at the end."
Kenseth must do next week what Kevin Harvick pulled off in the Chase's first round. He must win where it seems unlikely going in.
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All quotes are taken from NASCAR media, team and manufacturer sources unless otherwise noted.
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