NASCAR’s double standard officiating exposed

Logano leads Kenseth

By now you’ve surely seen the incident between Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano Sunday at Martinsville Speedway. The driver of the #20 Dollar General Toyota Camry was eliminated from contention in Sunday’s Good’s 500 after a lap 444 wreck involving himself, Brad Keselowski and Kurt Busch. Kenseth would however return to the track nine laps down shortly thereafter.

With 42 laps remaining Kenseth deliberately drove into the left rear quarter panel of Logano in retaliation for their incident two weeks before at Kansas, when Logano wrecked a race leading Kenseth and went on to victory.

Tuesday, NASCAR announced that Kenseth has been suspended for the upcoming races at Texas and Phoenix for his actions Sunday. While I find the suspension laughable considering Kenseth turned his car into a weapon with intent to maim Logano, it is unprecedented for NASCAR. For example, when Carl Edwards deliberately sent Brad Keselowski airborne at Atlanta in 2010 He was placed on probation for three races.

When Edwards deliberately spun Keselowski later that year in an Xfinity Series race he was docked 25 points, fined $25,000 and placed on probation for the rest of the years. When Jeff Gordon intentionally wrecking Clint Bowyer at Phoenix in 2012, he was fined $100,000 and docked 25 points but raced the following week at Homestead.

[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]Of course, if you listen to many in the NASCAR media, you might come away with the impression that the sanction came down with the wrath of God on poor Matt Kenseth. And from the standpoint that a driver of Kenseth’s caliber was suspended, that is true.

But don’t for a second think that this is a new NASCAR, backing off its moronic “have at it boys" credo or reassuming control of its racetracks from drivers looking to settle scores. Because if you look beyond the surface all NASCAR did Tuesday was merely clarify how when and to whom such barbaric retaliation is appropriate. And it is the when and who, in which we can find the root of Kenseth’s sin.

Now, before going ahead let me make clear, or reiterate that I believe there is no place in racing for turning a car into a weapon. Yes, accidents obviously happen in racing, and there is gray area between negligent driving and a racing incident. There are also some forms of racing in which a certain degree of contact is warranted, stock cars being one of them.

However, contact that results from racing is a far cry from a competitor lying in the weeds and waiting to strike. That is inexcusable, and as I mentioned earlier, probably criminal. If the results of any of the incidents discussed above had been worse, you can rest assured that criminal prosecution would be on the table.

And “but judge, I wrecked him on a short track and not a superspeedway" is a viable defense only if you so happen to be a delusional NASCAR fan or part of the cheerleading media corps.

The simple truth is race car drivers should not be the people policing race tracks. That is the domain of sanctioning bodies. And those sanctioning bodies, which are entrusted both implicitly and explicitly with acting in the interests of driver, official and spectator safety should have a zero-tolerance policy to such actions.

This is why I also believe there should have been a penalty for Logano’s stunt on Kenseth at Kansas, as there was clear intent to wreck. Obviously, this has not been the position of NASCAR. And after this latest tussle involving Kenseth and Logano, we know NASCAR is as complicit as ever in such barbaric acts.

The best way to illustrate this is using an example from the same race. Danica Patrick was fined $50,000 and docked 25 points for wrecking David Gilliland in retaliation Sunday at Martinsville.

Danica Patrick

It could be argued that the fact Patrick’s wrecking was relatively clumsy and did more damage to Patrick than Gilliland, possibly meant ‘time already served’ was factored into Patrick’s sanction. Still, it doesn’t take a genius to see the double standard here: two drivers intentionally wrecked competitors; one got suspended; the other received a slap on the wrist. So, what’s the difference?

"Based upon our extensive review, we have concluded that the No. 20 car driver, who is no longer in the Chase, intentionally wrecked the No. 22 car driver, a Chase-eligible competitor who was leading the race at the time," said Steve O'Donnell, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer.

"Additionally, we factored aspects of safety into our decision and also the fact that the new Chase elimination format puts a premium on each and every race. These actions have no place in NASCAR."

Coming from the school of thought in which words mean things, and the order in which you present words means something as well, if I read O’Donnell’s quote correctly, Kenseth’s biggest sin was he wrecked Logano during The Chase. No, Kenseth’s crime was not endangering a fellow competitor or spectators – that was factored in “additionally." Again, if I’m reading this correctly, had Kenseth settled a score with David Gilliland that would have not been as big a deal.

Kenseth had the audacity to take out race leader Logano to the detriment of Brian France’s beloved Chase

But Kenseth had the audacity to settle his score to the detriment of The Show, to the detriment of Brian France’s beloved Chase. He chose to do this, when really, he should have had the patience to wait until early next season to do it. And the fact it is that which NASCAR finds so revolting, and not the myriad of other issues this incident brings into play, should tell you all you need to know about a sanction which has lost its way.

Yes, boys, have at it; just be sure not to interfere with The Chase.

GRC

The Red Bull Global Rallycross championship was settled in Las Vegas last evening with Andretti Autosport’s Scott Speed edged out teammate Tanner Foust for the title, with 2014 series champion Joni Wiman capturing the main event win.

Now, I haven’t seen a television rating yet. I also get having the final in Las Vegas at night understand having the final in November to avoid the worst of the brutal Vegas heat. And this time of year it is difficult to find quality television slots against football.

But for a growing sport is it really such a great idea to have your finale aired at 10 p.m. EST in the middle of the week on NBC Sports Network? I’m not sure if this would be feasible, but would it make any sense for the series to run their championship final at halftime of NBC’s Sunday Night Football? The race is certainly short enough where it would not interrupt a normal halftime by more than a few minutes, if that. And in my opinion at least it would be better than the usual halftime fare.

Anyway, for a made-for-TV series that has a desirable television package otherwise, the series finale leaves something to be desired.

In other GRC news, I’m hearing a major manufacturer not currently involved is looking to get into the series for 2016.

Brian Carroccio is a columnist for AutoRacing1. He can be contacted at BrianC@AutoRacing1.com.

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