NASCAR Kansas 2015 recap: Matt Kenseth, Joey Logano engage in hard racing, not dirty driving

One block. Then another. Both thrown by Matt Kenseth in a desperate effort to keep Joey Logano from taking the lead during the final laps on Sunday at Kansas Speedway. The despair was brought due to an insurmountable points deficit that meant almost certain Chase for the Sprint Cup elimination unless he won either Kansas or next week at Talladega Superspeedway.

And here Kenseth was out front, a victory well within reach, poised to secure a berth in the next round with only a handful of laps remaining.

Just behind Kenseth was Logano, who appeared to have the faster car and seemed to be sizing Kenseth up for the winning pass. Unlike Kenseth, Logano didn’t need a victory Sunday. The Team Penske driver had won the week before at Charlotte Motor Speedway assuring he would be among the eight competing for the championship come Round 3.

Except Logano wasn’t going to lay down. If he could win Logano would push Kenseth, regarded as a championship favorite, one step closer to elimination making Logano’s path to the title slightly more manageable. So he matched Kenseth’s desperation.

Initially Logano permitted Kenseth to get away with throwing the first block as they sped into Turn 3, tapping the brake and falling back into line to mount another charge. But Logano wasn’t to allow Kenseth such latitude a second time.

And when Kenseth tried to stunt Logano’s momentum entering Turn 1 with five laps left, Logano didn’t back off. Instead, he stayed in the gas, running up on Kenseth’s bumper and gave him a shove in the left rear. That contact sent Kenseth spinning and vaulted Logano into the lead he would not relinquish.

“I feel like he raced me the same way,” Logano said. “I’d be surprised if he expected something different. We were just racing hard. He’s racing for a win, I’m racing for a win and there’s a lot of aggression there. That’s what our sport is built on.”

Kenseth, naturally, had a different interpretation of events. From his viewpoint, as the leader he could dictate which groove he wanted. If that happened to be the same lane Logano had claimed, then Logano should have yielded

“It’s not like he was alongside of me,” Kenseth said. “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.

“He picked my rear tires off the ground and wrecked me so there’s no debate about that one ... he just decided to take us out.”

Neither Kenseth nor Logano is wrong in their way of thinking. Nor are they 100 percent without fault. Of course that doesn’t subside the bad blood that is likely to linger.

Although Logano may not have to compete against Kenseth directly for the championship -- barring a miraculous win at Talladega -- the two will continue to occupy the same track for the rest of the season and on that end Kenseth can make Logano’s life increasingly difficult. As can Kenseth’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammates, Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards and Denny Hamlin, each of whom possess a good chance of joining Logano in the Chase’s third round.

“To me, strategically, that doesn’t seem like such a great decision for him,” Kenseth said. “But, it’s the one he made and that’s how he wanted to win.”

Unconcerned about any future reprisals, Logano maintains he raced Kenseth equitably and never with the intent of turning him around. The only motivating factor Sunday was an ironclad will to win, nothing more.

“I raced hard because my team works hard and they expect that out of me,” Logano said. “They expect their driver to go to battle in those situations. That’s my job. And if I lifted in that situation, like I did down the backstretch, if I did that twice, I’m not sure my team would be too proud to work for someone like that.

“I know I wouldn’t want to work on someone’s car that’s going to roll over.”

High stakes. Two determined drivers who weren’t going concede. In essence, what transpired Sunday was a quintessential racing accident.