CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) – Matt Kenseth’s two-race suspension will stand.
The driver lost appeals hearings in front of the National Motorsports Appeals Panel and the panel’s final appeals officer. Kenseth will miss upcoming races at Texas and Phoenix before he’s eligible to return for the Nov. 22 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Kenseth was punished for intentionally wrecking Joey Logano over the weekend during the race at Martinsville. NASCAR says it punished Kenseth harshly because his decision to wreck Logano altered the outcome of a race and that is never supposed to happen. Kenseth maintains he was exacting retribution after Logano wrecked him three races earlier, damaging his chances to advance in NASCAR’s playoffs.
Previously…
HARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) – NASCAR has suspended Matt Kenseth for the next two races after he intentionally wrecked Joey Logano late in the race at Martinsville Sunday.
Logano was leading the race in an effort to wrap up his fourth straight win when Kenseth, who was nine laps down, rode him into the wall.
It was payback for when Logano pushed Kenseth out of the way, then went on to win when both were contending for the race in Kansas City three races ago.
Because of the wreck, Logano is now last in the eight-driver field with two races remaining to earn a bid into the title-deciding finale on Nov. 22.
Kenseth has also been placed on probation for six months.
