Texas Motor Speedway hosts the Sprint Cup Series AAA Texas 500 on Sunday, and track President Eddie Gossage said that the venue experienced its "highest ticket sales on the Sunday before race weekend" in part due to the Matt Kenseth-Joey Logano incident last weekend at Martinsville, according to Drew Davison of the FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM. Gossage said, "It was a record night for us, and this is not the time when you usually sell a bunch of tickets. It was a big night. ... They want to see what happens next." Davison notes fans are "interested to see how NASCAR handles the latest incident," in which Kenseth appeared to intentionally wreck Logano as payback for Logano wrecking Kenseth two weeks earlier. Some feel that the sanctioning body "should suspend Kenseth, while others feel it’s fair game in this Chase format." Gossage: "NASCAR is in a tough position. Who knows what they’re going to do? There’ll be some penalty, but they played a role in this. They’ve let these kinds of things happen." Davison writes the Sprint Cup Series is "at a crossroads, which means it could go in any direction." Driver Kyle Busch: “It’s boys being boys right now. You’ve got to be consistent. I definitely feel NASCAR is very consistent in being inconsistent on calls" (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 11/3).
FRANCE DISAPPPOINTED IN ACTIONS: NASCAR Chair & CEO Brian France today noted the sanctioning body was "very disappointed in what transpired" between Kenseth and Logano, saying the incident last week at Kansas Speedway between Kenseth and Logano was an "entirely different situation" than what happened on Sunday. France said, "What we are not going to do is take the style of NASCAR and parlay that into something where one driver or another believes the way to pay back somebody for something that happened is take matters into their own hands. Obviously, we won’t be accepting that. I think the most important thing is the way to pay drivers back is to race them hard. ... What happened on Sunday, that’s not quite the way that we would have liked to see that turn out” (“The Morning Drive,” SiriusXM Radio, 11/3).
WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE: The AP's Jenna Fryer wrote this is NASCAR's "version of the 'wild West,' ... and it is riddled with inconsistencies." NASCAR "ushered in this 'Boys, have at it' era, and it was NASCAR that didn't park" Jeff Gordon in '12 when he "deliberately wrecked championship contender Clint Bowyer." Fox analyst Larry McReynolds: "What Matt Kenseth did was so far beyond the 'Boys, have at it' excuse that it doesn't belong in the same conversation. If NASCAR doesn't drop the hammer hard on him, shame on them." Fryer noted Danica Patrick also "chased David Gilliland up the track Sunday to wreck him as payback for an earlier incident," but "no one is calling for Patrick to be suspended." Fryer: "Beside the obvious championship implications, what is the difference?" (AP, 11/2). NASCAR.com's Zack Albert wrote the Kenseth-Logano incident is an "opportunity for NASCAR officials to take ownership of the competition back in house." Albert: "NASCAR officials want to see emotions from competitors, but they also don't want to see cars wielded as weapons, especially with hard, intentional hits on the driver's side" (NASCAR.com, 11/2).
RUBBIN'S RACIN': Fox NASCAR analyst Darrell Waltrip said that he "can’t excuse Kenseth’s behavior." Waltrip: "If this type of behavior goes unchecked, it continues to escalate from week to week. We can try to chalk it up to the Chase and the drama that it inherently creates, but NASCAR still is responsible for maintaining the integrity of the sport.” Waltrip said that it would "damage the sport even further if NASCAR were to simply look the other way" (MOTORSPORT.com, 11/2). NASCAR analyst Wally Dallenbach said, "To go after a guy like that, to blatantly be laying back and going after a guy when you completely possibly ruin this guy's championship, ruined it for team Penske, ruined it for Joey's sponsors -- I think he went way too far on this one.” McReynolds said, "I saw one of our past champions, a champion of our sport, nine laps down, wreck the leader on purpose on the front straightaway, and that is wrong. That's across the line. It's out of the box. It has nothing to do with ‘boys, have at it’” ("NASCAR Race Hub," FS1, 11/2). However, some current drivers have come to Kenseth's defense. Dale Earnhardt Jr. said, "I ain’t going to argue with what Matt did. Matt felt like he was justified with how Joey wrecked him at Kansas and then was arrogant about it afterward." Kevin Harvick: “That’s kind of an eye-for-an-eye situation with Matt. There’s really no in between with Matt. Racing around him for a long time, you kind of know where you sit with him" (USATODAY.com, 11/2).
