Matt Kenseth crashes Joey Logano at Martinsville

A revenged-minded Matt Kenseth appeared to deliberately wreck race-leader Joey Logano during Sunday’s championship playoff race at Martinsville Speedway.

Kenseth, who had been in an accident earlier involving Logano and his teammate Brad Keselowski and was down 10 laps, turned into Logano down the frontstretch and continued pushing him as they entered Turn 1. That contact sent Kenseth and Logano crashing hard into the outside wall, severely damaging both cars.

Sunday’s incident is just the latest in a feud that has developed between Kenseth and Logano ever since Logano spun Kenseth out of the lead with five laps remaining to take the victory two weeks ago at Kansas Speedway. Logano, who had won the week before to clinch advancement, contended Kenseth blocked him several times preceding him tagging Kenseth’s right-rear quarter panel.

By not winning, Kenseth was effectively knocked out of the Chase for the Sprint Cup playoff and afterward he hinted at seeking possible retribution toward Logano, who’s won the past three races and emerged as the championship favorite. Logano, however, was not worried and dismissed the possibility.

Kenseth denied any wrongdoing Sunday, saying he had a right-front tire failure that caused him to drift up the track. Logano strongly disagreed with Kenseth’s viewpoint.

“What happened at Kansas is a completely different deal,” Logano said. “We were racing for the win and he blocks you a few times and then we raced hard and he blocked me the last time and we spun out. That’s what happened there.

“Here, it was just a complete coward move, especially for a championship race car driver and race team. Just a complete coward. It’s a chicken-you-know-what move to completely take out the leader when your race is over.”

Logano was attempting to become the first driver since Jimmie Johnson in 2007 to record four consecutive victories and had emerged as the championship favorite. Now, Logano will need to win either next weekend at Texas Motor Speedway or Nov. 15 at Phoenix International Raceway to remain in title contention.

“We’ll go to Texas and try to win,” Logano said. “We’re on a heckuva run. We’re not gonna let this take us down. This is a strong team and he’ll have his.”

NASCAR parked Kenseth for the remainder of the Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 and summoned him, along with team owner Joe Gibbs and crew chief Jason Ratcliff, to meet with officials post-race.

Following Logano spinning Kenseth at Kansas, NASCAR CEO and chairman Brian France supported the hard racing calling it “quintessential NASCAR” during an interview on SiriusXM Radio. But officials did not offer the same praise Sunday, citing Kenseth being multiple laps behind and seemingly veering intentionally into Logano, who was leading.

NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer Steve O’Donnell said officials will continue reviewing the events and decide if any penalties are warranted. Any potential sanctions would likely be announced Tuesday.

“What was disappointing today was a driver not competing for a win as many laps down when that happened,” O’Donnell said. “In our minds that’s a little bit different than two drivers really going after it coming out of Turn 4 for a win vs. what happened tonight.”