NASCAR CEO Brian Frances defends Matt Kenseth suspension, Chase playoff format

NASCAR CEO and chairman Brian France, speaking to reporters at his annual year-end press conference, further defended the decision to suspend Matt Kenseth for blatantly wrecking Joey Logano. He also reiterated that the controversial Chase for the Sprint Cup format -- which features multiple elimination races -- will not be revised.

The sanctioning body suspended Kenseth an unprecedented two races for deliberately wrecking race-leader Joey Logano Nov. 1 at Martinsville Speedway, thus denying Logano advancement to the Chase championship round. At the time Kenseth was 10 laps behind.

Kenseth’s takeout was in retaliation for Logano spinning him out of the lead two weeks before at Kansas Speedway, essentially knocking Kenseth out of the playoffs.

France, who called Logano’s bump-and-win maneuver “quintessential NASCAR” the day following the Kansas race, again lauded the move Friday. But France said Kenseth overstepped the line when he crashed Logano and NASCAR acted accordingly by issuing the largest penalty for on-track conduct during a Cup Series race in its history.

“Blocking, contact, the short end of some of those exchanges that happen, are all part of it and do not look to NASCAR to deal with that, they are part of racing,” France said Friday at Homestead-Miami Speedway. “Beyond part of racing and there’s contact ... if somebody is just intentionally banzaiing into some situation with the sole purpose of taking somebody out, we’ll deal with that. We dealt with that in Martinsville, as a matter of fact. We’ll deal with that at all times.

“But what is unmistakable is our brand of NASCAR, our style of NASCAR has been this way for decades.”

With Kenseth returning from suspension this weekend, France met with the 2003 Cup Series champion Monday and reaffirmed NASCAR’s position. The sit-down took place at Joe Gibbs Racing, Kenseth’s team, and afterward France and Gibbs also had a private meeting.

Sunday’s race is the season finale and will decide the 2015 titlist, with Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. as the remaining drivers in contention.

“We were very disappointed with what happened in Martinsville,” France said. “We reacted to that. We were coming down here to a championship weekend and I wanted to make sure that that matter was behind us with Matt, with Joe Gibbs and so on. I’m assured that it is.

“We had a good conversation about what had happened and what the thinking was -- or whatever you want to call Matt’s actions -- and we talked about that.”

The feud between Logano and Kenseth is one of several instances that have emerged as a byproduct of a Chase structure that eliminates four competitors every three races. Drivers say the increased pressure to perform and emphasis on winning -- a victory assures advancement to the next round -- has promoted a win-at-all-costs mentality.

But France said despite his initial opposition to the Chase format introduced last season, he has since become “thrilled” with how NASCAR’s playoffs are conducted. He believes the increased pressure has directly increased on-track competition.

“We know that it’s raising the level of competition,” France said. “Drivers -- teams, not just drivers -- are doing, trying things, being aggressive, and achieving things they never thought possible.

“We got exactly what we want, which is great racing. Obviously, when you get great racing, you’re going to get great moments, we love great moments as anybody in sports does.”