NASCAR sent Matt Kenseth, drivers a strong message that some lines should not be crossed

The mantra was uttered during the 2010 preseason media tour by NASCAR’s vice president of competition, and in the years that followed would become an all-encompassing elucidation anytime a driver performed an aggressive act at the expense of another.

“Boys, have at it” represented a throwback to NASCAR’s heyday when those who did dastardly deeds on the track had to account for their actions on and off it, and a departure from what stock car racing had become where drivers perceived as vanilla rarely did anything that may upset their million dollar sponsors.

But “Boys, have at it” was never intended as an allowance for a driver to get away with deliberately wrecking a competitor solely because they felt wronged. The intent of the philosophy was to encourage hard, sometimes physical racing where, if two drivers were fighting for a position, neither would be hesitant to initiate contact.

Gradually, though, what was supposed to be a general overview of how NASCAR would officiate has become the standard. Now the expectation is drivers can get away with pretty much anything and if they do something to warrant a penalty, the sanctions are likely to be lenient and nothing of serious consequence.

It’s why the majority -- drivers and fans alike -- thought Matt Kenseth was undeserving of a penalty for his actions Sunday when he pile-drived Joey Logano into the Turn 1 wall at Martinsville Speedway.

Despite the fact he was 10 laps down and Logano the race leader, Kenseth felt he had justification as Logano spun him out and took away a win two weeks before at Kansas Speedway. Merely, Kenseth was just carrying out NASCAR’s longstanding eye-for-an-eye mentality that was afforded him under the “Boys, have at it” principle.

But this situation was different from past episodes where drivers had intentionally wrecked someone and escaped with either no penalties or the equivalent of a slap on the wrist. Since 2010, NASCAR has completely overhauled its Chase for the Sprint Cup championship format, and with it, the stakes for winning a playoff are greater and the margin of error smaller.

“It’s a no holds barred, wild, wild west,” Denny Hamlin said.

Because of the elimination component, the possibility exists that one driver with nothing to lose could calculatingly wait until the optimal time to knock another out of the championship, leaving little to no time to recover. Such as what occurred Sunday, when Kenseth, eliminated the previous round, prevented Logano from scoring a victory that would have clinched him a spot in the Nov. 22 championship finale.

For the integrity of its championship, NASCAR could not let such opprobrious behavior go unpunished. And it’s why Kenseth is very deserving of the two-race suspension issued to him Tuesday.

Kenseth impacted a title picture he was no longer a part of, and that kind of lawlessness is not excusable no matter what catchy refrain a NASCAR executive said nearly six years ago. Although some will contend Logano did the same when he spun Kenseth, the differences between the two incidents are vast and not at all a worthy rationalization for what Kenseth did.

At Kansas, Kenseth and Logano were racing for a win and on several occasions Kenseth blocked Logano from passing -- even going as far to push Logano up into the outside wall. That Logano responded to Kenseth’s breach of driver decorum by turning him was almost expected, as nearly anything goes when a victory is on line.

While last weekend Kenseth and Logano were not battling for the win, Kenseth was 10 laps -- 10! -- behind and presented with a chance to severely hinder his rival’s title hopes, he did so. That wasn’t “Boys, have at it,” but something far more coldblooded and deserving of whatever punishment NASCAR deemed appropriate.

“We expect them to race hard,” NASCAR CEO and chairman Brian France told SiriusXM Radio Tuesday. “Blocking is part of this game, as Matt was doing, and contact will happen in NASCAR from time to time.

“The unfortunate thing for Matt is that he had a lot on the line that day and it’s understandable the disappointment he had. Late in that race, a faster car is behind you and you’re blocking, there’s some contact and you get the short end of it and you go around. That was an entirely different situation than Martinsville.”

By sitting Kenseth for two weeks, NASCAR isn’t issuing an annulment of allowing drivers to police themselves. Nor is it eradicating full-contact racing -- France and other NASCAR executives have repeatedly trumpeted their support for Logano shoving Kenseth out of the way at Kansas.

What NASCAR did Tuesday is set up parameters that prohibit a driver from taking someone out over a slight -- real or imagined. Because in racing, like anything in life, there are consequences when one oversteps the line of what is acceptable.

And if Kenseth and other drivers didn’t understand what that line was before Tuesday, they certainly have no doubt now.