FORT WORTH, Texas — Joey Logano defended his approach to how he races others and said he supports NASCAR’s two-race suspension of fellow driver Matt Kenseth Friday when he met with members of the media at Texas Motor Speedway.
“The message that’s been sent obviously, is that you can’t do that,” Logano said of last week’s incident with Kenseth at Martinsville Speedway. “I can’t speak for Matt; what happened has happened. It’s in the rearview at this point.”
“I’m not convinced it’s a bad thing. Our team’s more pumped up than ever. … This team’s got plenty of confidence … and there’s more drive than there’s ever been.”
The Team Penske driver finds himself last among the eight remaining drivers in NASCAR’s Chase for the Sprint Cup point standings after last week’s on-track incident with Kenseth. Logano was leading the race when contact with Kenseth (Joe Gibbs Racing) sent his No. 22 Ford into the wall. The incident occurred on Lap 254 of the scheduled 500-lap event. Kenseth, involved in an earlier wreck, was nine laps down at the time of the crash.
NASCAR officials suspended Kenseth, the 2003 series champion, for two races and placed him on probation as a result of his actions. An appeal by the team was upheld, as was a final appeal, although Final Appeals Officer Brian Moss reduced the probationary period, initially six months, to run only through the end of 2015.
The Martinsville altercation was not the first between the two Sprint Cup Series drivers. At Kansas Speedway last month, Kenseth spun after contact from Logano as the two were racing for the lead. Logano went on to win the race; Kenseth, unable to recover the following week at Talladega (where he needed a victory to advance to the next round), was eliminated from the Chase.
