Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

Well, Nascar just proved again why its governing body is the biggest joke in the sporting world.  (Just nudging out the NFL)   Let's just keep making rules and punishments up on the fly-even if we are punishing someone for doing what we asked them to do just a few years ago.

Now, before you think that I condone Matt Kenseth's actions, let me just say that I agree that his move was dirty and certainly uncalled for.  However, NASCAR, you did your hillbilly "boys have at it" slogan 4 or 5 years ago allowing drivers to "police" themselves without your intervention.  So, if you are going to start dropping penalties for drivers "policing" themselves, shouldn't you call off the "boys have at it" rule you implemented? 

What ever happened to having rules in place with consequences and penalties spelled out?  In this case, if the penalty for intentionally wrecking a driver that you weren't racing for a position was a 2 race suspension, then all NASCAR's governing body would have to do is come to an agreement as to whether Matt wrecked Joey on purpose.  (which he clearly did-end of story) 

Nascar's knee jerk reaction to the Ray Rice incident prompted the Kurt Busch suspension-which I think we can all agree was a clear cut case of an insane stalker-before hearing evidence and allowing Kurt to clear his name-which he did.  There was no smoking gun-like an elevator video-so let the damned thing play out.   

If your going to have penalties, punishments, and fines, spell them out. 

All that aside, it was a popular "take-out" for me.  I love seeing a veteran driver take it to a spoiled punk driver who has been ruffling the wrong feathers all year.  It was actually the first race all year that I watched and actually did not regret.

Clarify-1st NASCAR race I watched all year and didn't regret.  (Saw a lot of good dirt races) 

Did you see the crowd going nuts when it happened? And NASCAR wants to shut that down!! 

Kenseth is a hero and his actions should be celebrated. Especially after reading Pat Sullivans column in the latest SC&M magazine. 

This is from Nascar: "Based upon our extensive review, we have concluded that the No. 20 car driver, who is no longer in the Chase, intentionally wrecked the No. 22 car driver, a Chase-eligible competitor who was leading the race at the time," said Steve O'Donnell, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer. "The No. 20 car was nine laps down and eliminated the No. 22 car's opportunity to continue to compete in the race."Additionally, we factored aspects of safety into our decision and also the fact that the new Chase elimination format puts a premium on each and every race. These actions have no place in NASCAR."

So basically what I am taking from this statement is, if Kenseth was in the chase or if both drivers were out of the chase then this would have been fine? I do recall Jeff Gordon taking out Clint Bowyer a few years ago and did not get suspended at all.

Fast forward to now, you have a driver in Matt Kenseth who to the best of my knowledge has never done anything like this in his career and has the respect of his fellow competitors, takes out Joey Logano who apparently does not have the respect of his competitors, has taken drivers out intentially (see Denny Hamlin and I can't stand Denny) and injured them, cries about everything that does not go his way, has his daddy fight his battles for him, and does not have the class to face other drivers after he does something to them, and now Nascar is claiming they factor aspects of safety into their decisions? They were not too concerned about saftey when Joey did it to Denny, Jeff did it to Clint, or for Kyle Busch when he hit the inside wall but they are now to protect their precious little chase. The situation that happened is on Nascar, no one else. I will not blame a driver for doing everything to win and at the same time I do not blame another driver evening the score when the sanctioning body will not. Joey took Kenseth out of the chase and now hopefully Matt has taken Joey out of the chase. Have fun having your fake champion because you are trying to compete in ratings with the NFL and MLB Playoffs which is stupid to being with. I have always hated Jeff Gordon and now I am hoping he wins the title with only 1win on the season to prove how stupid this chase concept is. It was created to emphasize winning and last year you had someone with 0wins finish 2nd in the points and this year could have someone with only 1 win become champion. Whatever happened to having the best team over the whole season win the title? Considering they go up against all competitors each week unlike other sports who can only go up against 1team at a time.

Fuck Logano. NASCAR sucks. That's all I've got on this topic.

I watched the replay 1000 times and laughed every time. Need more of this. 

And this would be why I watch sprint cars. NASCRAP is in my opinion, the shittiest form of racing in all of motorsports. I really don't give even the slightest shit who wins what, who wrecks who or who gets suspended. The whole thing is one big joke. You don't see sprint car drivers pulling that kind of shit very often because they know that they can very easily be killed or permanently injured and they're reminded of it all too often. Seems to me, the boys in NASCRAP have forgotten that. Not only their actions on the track, but the things some of them had to say when commenting on Jason Leffler's fatal crash and Tony Stewart's leg injury lead me to believe they think that they're invincible. The soft walls, newer safety oriented car design, HANS devices and full containment seats have galvanized this mindset as well as the fact that most if not all of the injuries that have occurred since NASCRAP upped their safety standards in the wake of Earnhardt's fatal crash have occurred when cars found a wall that didn't have safer barrier installed. Then you have spectacular crashes like Dillon and Larson had and the have at it boys bullshit and that just adds more fuel to the fire. They told them to have at it and now they are. Simple as that. I hope I'm wrong because I don't want to see anyone get hurt or killed in ANY form of racing but the NASCRAP community is going to have a tragic reminder real soon of what can happen when you have guys beating the shit out of each other at 200mph and cars are flying into catch fences. Right now, they're playing Russian roulette and you can only pull the trigger so many times until eventually, a bullet ends up in the chamber. I can't believe so many people actually watch this garbage. I'll stick to real race cars.

I agree with almost every bit of everyone's responses.  Loved watching him hit the wall-can't stand him.  Loved watching the crowd's reaction.  Do agree it was dirty and would have no problem with a rule that punished those for doing it-but have a rule. 

Also agree Gordon should have been suspended two or three years ago-and I am a Gordon fan. 

Also agree with Nick 14 on a number of points but especially about Denny Hamlin.  Everytime that guy doesn't win it is someone else's fault--crew, track, another driver, fans, cars, Obama's,................................

so is NASNAP eally any different than WRG?  are you saying that when the WOO-zers come to town they are not known for making up there own rules? curious is all and not defending NASNAP but they are privately held i believe.  the golden rule is the one with all the gold make the rules...just sayin'

Ascot was the greatest of all time..

West Capital wasn't half bad either..

Life is good...

NASCAR is playing us like a fiddle.  We should be absolutely ashamed to give this a second of attention.  We would be better off talking about various sewer plant characteristics.  It truly shows how degraded American society has become and I include myself since I'm reading and typing in this thread.

Luna's Ford engine style that won 2 WoO titles and 3 
Kings Royals before a weight rule against the best EVER
in their prime and now DOMINATES super dirt late model
racing is no longer allowed/wanted in a WoO sprint
car.... Was Luna a miracle worker?

Totally hit the nail on the head. The vast majority of people that make up the fabric of society are extremely shallow. I guess that's why something like NASCRAP somehow became a multi million dollar business and the biggest form of motorsports in the U.S.A. Extremely sad.

Same old crap with this NASCAR bunch. Kiss the Ford teams ass. It started long before the invention of the 2 door Taurus and its still going on today.

Sewer plants run MUCH better with Ford power...

Why isn't NASCAR reveiwing what Harvick did at Taladega??  Talk about taking someone out of the chase. That is exactly what Harvick did to Earnhardt when he intentionally turned right into the 6 car. Causeed a yellow so he wouldn't get passed and didn't let the race go on. No yellow, Earnhardt wins. The Kenseth incident alone did not take anyone out of the chase!!!!!

"You will never know it was your "Day" until it's over"

Hey Sarge...   Don't forget that Kenseth was PUNTED OUT of even MAKING the Chase by Logano.  Every NASCAR offiial says that Kenseth took Logano out of a Chase race and that he wasn't even in the Chase.  Well thats why.......I always defended NASCAR on here and made fun of guys and their childish names, i.e. NASCRAP, NAPCAR.  I will not defend NASCAR anymore, but I still will not use the childish names.

I agree, Kennseth got screwed. Logano basically took him out of the chase. What do you bet they use the crash in their promos. If they do, they are complete hypocrites.

It ain't racing.....it is NASCAR.   AKA  "motorsports based entertainment".  

As much as they want to say they are "concerned" or "disappointed" about Kenseth's actions,  I gotta believe that NASCAR brass is loving it.   I don't think they can deny that this sort of thing is EXACTLY why the elimination style playoff format was created.  They may want to blur the lines or put a PR doublespeak spin on their feelings, but how can you come up with any other conclusion as to what would happen?  

As far as Kenseth?    He suddenly has 6 more free days open on his calender during Western Wisconsin hunting season.   Sure he wishes that he could still be in the chase, but since the next three races are pretty much meaningless for him,  I bet he doesn't mind having the next two weekends free.  

Enjoy the time off Matt and go get them in Homestead.    And if you gotta wreck Beavis or his team mate Butthead in Homestead to ensure they won't be champion.....don't hesitate to do it again.   (Bonus points if you can get your team mate in the 18 caught up in the same wreck) 

Kenseth was coming for the 22 that whole race and it seemed pretty clear the Penske guys knew this (they even said that in an interview). The 2 made sure Kenseth was not going to get to the back of the 22, I do not understand why this isn't talked about. Kenseth was going to do it "right" and move the 22 into the wall for the lead (slight speculation) and that would have been the end of it. NASCAR would have had nothing to say, since that type of behavior was "justified" over the last couple of years. Matt wasn't given that opportunity, so he made his own. Was it right, probably not, but he got his point across, you want to continue to screw with me, I will follow through and make it 10x harder for you. NASCAR missed the mark and will pay pretty dearly. This week those that don't normally tune in will watch, be treated to a vanilla race where what good hard racing could be, won't because the drivers will be afraid of Big Daddy NASCAR and those that tune in will never come back. Idiots.

I think NASCAR will generally look the other way when it involves contact for the win or the lead-two cars fighting for the same spot.  I think why this ruffled their feathers was the fact that no place was involved.  They were not racing for the same spot.  Either way--SPELL IT OUT IN THE RULES NASCAR!

Maddog--What the hell happened to our 'Hawks last night?  I started working on a project for work after they got the 5-2 lead thinking we had it in the bag.  I look up 30 minutes later and it's tied!  Is Duncan's absence going to screw us this year?  (I am going to watch Bickell play Saturday night in Rockford along with the coach Q- exiled Morin.  We will see if he has any fire or if he just hates it there!)