MARTINSVILLE, Va. - The expected payback came with 45 laps to go.
Matt Kenseth wrecked Joey Logano as Logano led in Sunday’s race at Martinsville Speedway.
The incident comes two weeks after contact between the two while Kenseth led late at Kansas caused Kenseth to spin and allowed Logano to win that race. Kenseth failed to advance from the second round and no longer is eligible to win the title.
“I think what happened at Kansas is a completely different deal,’’ Logano said. “We were racing for the win.
“Here is just a complete coward move, especially for a championship race car driver and race team. Just coward. I don’t have anything else to say. It’s a chicken-you-know-what move to take out the leader when your race is over.’’
Asked if it was payback, Kenseth said: “Somedays you get put in spots that you don’t want to be in for sure. I’d much rather be out there racing for a win than that spot. I had two chances to win in the last three weeks and got wrecked out of both of them. One from him and one from Brad. So that’s disappointed. I should have never been in that spot trying to limp that car around.
“I got outside Joey and was going to race him for the win and Brad (Keselowski) wiped me out for some reason, I’m not really sure why. We had so much damage on the right front, I probably should have put it in the garage.’’
NASCAR called Kenseth, crew chief Jason Ratcliff and car owner Joe Gibbs to the hauler.
Logano interview
Kenseth interview