Matt Kenseth summoned to meeting with NASCAR CEO Brian France
Matt Kenseth will meet with NASCAR CEO Brian France before he returns to the Sprint Cup Series on Sunday at Homestead-Miami.
Kenseth was suspended for two races after crashing Joey Logano intentionally. Kenseth has said he doesn’t regret what he did to Logano and told the Associated Press that he would race more aggressively upon his return from his suspension.
”I really stand by my actions,” he told the AP. ”I feel like there’s a breaking point. It wasn’t just about being mad, it was about getting this fixed. It was time to make it stop.”
A NASCAR spokesperson confirmed the scheduled meeting with France and Kenseth to USA Today.
Given Kenseth’s comments about the racing being “kind of out of control” following the finish at Talladega, we’ve wondered if Kenseth’s punt of Logano was not only a shot towards the driver of the No. 22 but towards NASCAR as well. Kenseth’s teammate Denny Hamlin had made a wild west reference when talking about the race. Until Kenseth was suspended, NASCAR had recently been preferring to let drivers settle their differences on the track (and, sometimes, off of it as well).
”I felt like I was almost encouraged. I felt like the comments almost condoned it, the way Brian France said Joey was smart in the way he strategically eliminated a threat for the title,” Kenseth said to the AP. ”I just never dreamed, ever, that I’d get suspended for going back and evening the score.”
Kenseth went for a slide after he and Logano had made contact while racing for the lead with five laps to go at Kansas. Kenseth, the 2003 champion, had said he felt Logano crashed him intentionally while Logano maintained he hadn’t. Kenseth was nine laps down when he crashed Logano at Martinsville. Logano was leading the race.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!