MARTINSVILLE, Virginia – For much of the Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, Team Penske’s duo of Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano were the two cars to beat.
Then in an instant, Brad Keselowski’s day was demolished on a Lap 435 restart incident, which also involved Matt Kenseth and championship contender Kurt Busch.
A short time later, Joey Logano who entered the first race in the Eliminator Round as the point’s leader was eliminated while leading after Matt Kenseth wrecked the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Fusion on Lap 454.
Both drivers returned to the race and finished 32nd and 37th respectively, but now face a steep climb if they have any hope to keep their championship chances alive heading to Texas Motor Speedway next Sunday.
“Yeah. I think what happened at Kansas is a completely different deal,” said Logano of the incident with Kenseth. “We were racing for the win and he blocks you a few times and then we raced hard and he blocked me the last time and we spun out. That’s what happened there. Here it was just a complete coward move, especially for a championship race car driver and race team. Just a complete coward.”
Keselowski eyeing his second Sprint Cup championship offered his insight on the incident that left him sixth in points.
“I got hit from behind and pushed me into the 20 and my right-front wheel hit Kenseth’s left-rear and it just broke the right-front suspension off the car,” said the 2012 Cup champion. “The car wouldn’t turn and just kept going straight until I couldn’t do anything and I started wrecking everybody. I just didn’t have any steering wheel left.”
Logano entered Martinsville on the streak of three consecutive wins in the Contender Round, being the first driver to accomplish such a feat in NASCAR’s newest format of the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
But, as strong as the 25-year-old Logano has been over the last month and even this past weekend Martinsville in particular, he also knew that he was a target. Particularly with Kenseth.
Logano and the Joe Gibbs Racing driver made contact with five laps remaining at Kansas Speedway two weeks ago, a race that saw Kenseth lose any hope of a championship title, while Logano soared to his fifth victory of 2015.
Sunday, Kenseth brought Logano’s dominance to a screeching halt in an incident described as a blatant, intentional and complete retaliatory move.
“I got wrecked. I don’t know,” offered Logano. “What am I supposed to say about it? His race was over and he tried so hard to catch us the first time and he took out half the field, and he was successful the second time so I give that to him. It’s kind of a coward move. Actually, a really coward move for a race car driver to do that, essentially someone as mature and an experienced race car driver that knows what this is all about.”
Despite the frustration and anger that the No. 2 and No. 22 teams showed with their disappointing November day, the proof is still in the pudding, the Team Penske cars are still some of the fastest cars on the circuit.
Is a comeback possible?
Of course, but it won’t be easy.
Logano has expressed for a while that he felt Texas Motor Speedway was another perfect place to continue a dream season for the Middletown, Connecticut native and he’ll take that vibe to the Lone Star state this week where he finished fourth in April.
“We’ll go to Texas and try to win,” explained Logano. “We’re on a heckuva run. We were still leading the race. We’re not gonna let this take us down. This is a strong team and he’ll have
his. There’s a championship to win. We’re gonna win that.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
