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Joey Logano supports NASCAR's two-race suspension of fellow driver Matt Kenseth following another controversial week and ahead of Sunday's AAA Texas 500. Logano also defended his hard racing style when he met with the media at Texas Motor Speedway on Friday.
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"The message that's been sent obviously, is that you can't do that," Logano said of last Sunday's incident with Kenseth at Martinsville Speedway. "I can't speak for Matt -- what happened has happened. It's in the rearview at this point."
Logano said the suspension of Kenseth wasn't his concern.
"That is NASCAR who looked at that in the way they needed to and made the decision they felt was right," Logano said. "It doesn't affect me. I don't have a horse in that race."
Kenseth lost two appeals on Thursday as he attempted to overturn the sanctions issued by NASCAR for his actions in the Sprint Cup race at Martinsville.
Kenseth drew a two-race suspension on Tuesday for purposely wrecking leader Logano during an Eliminator Round race as part of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Kenseth was trailing by 10 laps and appeared to be retaliating against Logano, who had turned Kenseth with five laps remaining at Kansas two weeks earlier when they were battling for the lead.
Logano of Team Penske finds himself last among the eight remaining drivers in NASCAR's Chase for the Sprint Cup point standings. Logano was leading the race when contact with Kenseth of Joe Gibbs Racing sent his No. 22 Ford into the wall. The incident occurred on Lap 254 of the scheduled 500-lap event. Kenseth, involved in an earlier wreck, was nine laps down at the time of the crash.
Kenseth expressed disappointed with the results of his appeals and thought he was being "unfairly made the example" because NASCAR does not having clear rules on penalties for retaliation.
"I am not going to change who I am, I'm not going to change what I stand for, I'm not going to change how I race," Kenseth said Thursday. "I've been in this business a long time. I feel I've had a pretty good career to this point and I feel like I'm going to continue to have the respect on the racetrack that I feel I deserve."
Kenseth is eligible to return for the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway the weekend of Nov. 20-22.
Logano, having won a series-high six races this year, now likely must win this weekend at Texas or the following week at Phoenix in order to be one of the four drivers eligible for the championship.
"I'm not convinced this is a bad thing," Logano said Friday. "Our team is more fired up than ever. I'm more focused than ever. I'm pretty pumped up about being here at the racetrack today. ... Is it the way we wanted it to go? No. Of course not. Did we get the finish we felt like we deserved that day? No. But this team has plenty of confidence."
Logano said he was disappointed when fans cheered after Kenseth rammed his car into the wall.
"Was I surprised to see the fans' reactions after something like that happened last week? Yes I was. I was disgusted by it," Logano said. "That was what I don't think any racer would expect out of it.
"But I am going to look at the silver lining on this one -- there are more No. 22 T-shirts and Joey Logano T-shirts and hats around. ... I have more fans than I have ever had before, and I love it and I appreciate every one of them. They are very good people. They're not the ones throwing things on the racetrack."
