NASCAR suspends Matt Kenseth 2 races for crashing Joey Logano at Martinsville

NASCAR handed Matt Kenseth an unprecedented two-race suspension for deliberately wrecking Joey Logano during last Sunday’s race at Martinsville Speedway, the sanctioning body announced Tuesday.

Kenseth was 10 laps down when he crashed race-leader Logano Sunday as retribution for an incident between them two weeks before at Kansas Speedway, when Logano spun Kenseth out of the lead, costing him a win and advancement in the Chase for the Sprint Cup playoff.

NASCAR officials immediately parked Kenseth after Sunday’s wreck and said afterward that they would continue to review the situation to determine if additional penalties were warranted. That decision came Tuesday afternoon and follows NASCAR CEO and chairman Brian France making pointed comments earlier in the day on SiriusXM Radio rebuking Kenseth’s behavior and hinting at likely significant sanctions.

Kenseth will miss Sunday’s Sprint Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway and the Nov. 15 race at Phoenix International Raceway. Joe Gibbs Racing has not named a replacement driver for its No. 20 car, but is likely to tab Erik Jones, a team Xfinity and Truck Series driver, who drove one Cup race for the injured Kyle Busch earlier this season.

JGR will appeal Kenseth’s suspension. A hearing date is not set, but NASCAR said it will expedite the appeal process. The penalty makes Kenseth the first driver since Busch in 2011 to be suspended for an on-track incident and the first to serve a multi-race suspension for intentionally wrecking a competitor.

In previous incidents involving a driver intentionally wrecking another, NASCAR’s reaction has varied depending on the circumstances and the offending party.

When Carl Edwards, 153 laps behind, intentionally turned into Brad Keselowski, causing Keselowski to get airborne and flip during the 2010 race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Edwards was placed on probation for three races and received no fine or suspension. And Jeff Gordon incurred a $100,000 fine and the loss of 25 points but missed no races after he deliberately wrecked Clint Bowyer in the penultimate race of the 2012 season. The incident, similar to Kenseth and Logano’s at Martinsville, had championship implications with Bowyer 28 points out of first at the time of the crash.

But in 2011, NASCAR sat Busch for the remainder of the fall Texas race weekend after he wrecked Ron Hornaday Jr. under caution during the Truck Series event. Busch missed the Sprint Cup and Xfinity Series races.

Kenseth wasn’t the only driver penalized for retaliation at Martinsville, as NASCAR also fined Danica Patrick $50,000 and loss of 25 points for deliberately slamming David Gilliland, who had pushed Patrick up the track earlier. The difference between the severity of Kenseth and Patrick’s penalties, NASCAR said, is Kenseth stood in the gas and drove Logano into the wall and impacted the championship, whereas Patrick did neither.

Had Logano won Martinsville, he would have clinched one of four spots in the championship finale. Now, Logano will need to win either Texas or the following week at Phoenix to qualify for the title-deciding race Nov. 22 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Kenseth was eliminated in the Chase’s second round.

“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,” NASCAR executive vice president Steve O’Donnell said in a statement. “The No. 20 car was nine laps down, and eliminated the No. 22 car’s opportunity to continue to compete in the race.

“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.”

By missing the next two races, Kenseth’s streak of 571 consecutive starts ends. The only active driver with a longer streak is Gordon (794), who is retiring at the conclusion of the current season.