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Depending on which side of the fence a fan stands has a lot to do with their perspective of what happens in any competitive event and at Kansas Speedway in the fifth Chase race for the NASCAR Sprint Cup title, that remains the same. Everyone has their opinion of what took place between Joey Logano and Matt Kenseth and emotions are spilling over into debates about who was right or wrong.
The main question in discussion is whether this is just ‘hard racing’ toward a championship title, where title competitors are going all out to gain an advantage against their competition. In reality, the goal of all Chase competitors is to gain an advantage to win the title. The real question lies in clarifying what is acceptable ‘hard racing’ and what crosses the line to unacceptable?
Fans will decide for themselves what type of racing they want to watch. But if a driver ‘races hard’ during the race, it’s a slippery slope to criticize any competitor that also ‘races hard’ at the end of the race.
Listen, I’ve personally said that it takes no skill or talent to push a competitor out of the race for a victory. For me there’s a difference between ‘hard racing’ and ‘clean hard racing’ where a driver uses their skill, not their bumper to win a race. In my opinion, bumper cars are not for talented élite drivers – and I stand by that point of view.
But in the race on Sunday afternoon at Kansas Speedway, there was a sense of urgency for Sprint Cup Series driver, Matt Kenseth. In the first race of the second Chase round at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Kenseth found himself on the bad side of another incident that left him finishing 42nd and as the 12th driver in the 12-competitor field that will pare down to just eight after Talladega next week.
Kenseth’s sense of urgency was clear, not once, but twice when he, pushed Logano into the outside retaining wall to keep his advantage during the race, wanting to win so his team would not be under pressure to win at Talladega – NASCAR’s ‘wild card’ track in the Chase. Whether it was his intention to put Logano in the wall or not is a moot point, because it doesn’t change the fact, that’s what happened. Kenseth was ‘racing hard’ to keep his advantage, to win the race.
So what’s the difference between Kenseth ‘racing hard’ during the race and Logano ‘racing hard’ at the end of the race? Logano used Kenseth’s racing tactic at a moment that it would be to his advantage to win the race.
Again, whether it was Logano’s intention to spin Kenseth or not is a moot point, as what happened, happened, because Logano was playing out the same strategy of gaining an advantage over his competitor using the same ‘hard racing’ tactic as his competitor.
If one plays with fire, one needs to prepare for getting burnt. Whether Logano will get burnt playing with fire is left to see if it’s forthcoming. Stay tuned for the last five races of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
At Kansas, Kenseth, ‘played hard’ and his competitor ‘played hard’ right back, but did it at the right strategic moment to win. Kenseth opened the door for Logano to use that ‘hard racing’ tactic when he chose to use that tactic earlier in the race.
Right now, Logano is the only driver with a clinched spot in the next round, so his strategy of winning the first two races of this round seems well-founded by putting added pressure on his competitors at a tricky restrictor-plate track next weekend.
In the end, it was NASCAR’s strategy that was on the mark by developing their Chase format to include the elimination rounds. Every three races, in the last ten of the season, the lowest four Chase drivers do not advance to the next round, creating a sense of urgency in winning to stay in contention for the title.
The competition is greater than it’s ever been on many levels in the Sprint Cup Series, with drivers and teams going all out, especially during the Chase so they can compete for the title in the season finale at Homestead-Miami. These talented drivers are the élite drivers of NASCAR representing their sport.
Apparently the drivers are deciding how they want to earn the title during each race of the Chase. Will the eventual 2015 champion use their talent to ‘cleanly race hard’ or will they ‘race hard’ by playing bumper cars to claim the Sprint Cup Series championship title?
So far, this Chase has been unpredictable and at Talladega Superspeedway, where anything can happen, that won’t change.
Let’s start with I’m not a Logano fan. Nothing against him, but not a fan either. So, why is everybody blaming Logano for Kenseth’s (non)crash at Kansas? I know y’all watched the same footage I did, and what I saw was multiple blocking moves to the high side by a slower car trying to keep the car that was obviously faster in the high groove behind him. Playing with fire indeed, but Kenseth was the one playing with fire, and he got burned when he blocked one time too many. Take a much slower paced example. Let’s say you are on the highway, cruising along in the fast lane, and a slower car dodges in front of you from another lane inches in front of your bumper and you hit them. Who is at fault? I don’t think it is arguable that the car cutting you off is at fault, and this situation is the same. Only here the slower car (Kenseth) knew exactly what he was doing and took the calculated risk that Logano would be able (or willing) to slow down in time to avoid contact. Gamble lost. Now suck it up and go out and try to win at Talladega. And try racing cleanly this time, it can only work better than last week.
It’s mostly Kenseth fans blaming Logano, so take that for what it is – can’t say that I blame them, though, Kenseth is their driver and they want more in this Chase. All fans want that for their driver and anyone standing in the way of that happening is going to get some blame from those fans. That’s a given.
Kenseth was blocking and trying everything he could to protect his lead…he needed that win. Logano wanted that win too. It was a strategic move by Logano using Kenseth’s tactics to eliminate a tough competitor for the win. That move put a lot of pressure on other competitors as well, making this a very tight Chase round.
But for me, Kenseth sealed his fate by playing hard with Logano earlier in the race. But now that Logano, used his bumper to spin Kenseth for the win, he’s played with fire too and it wouldn’t surprise me if Kenseth comes back at him sometime within the next five races with his own version of payback. Right or wrong….it doesn’t matter.
Again, I don’t think this is a matter of placing a ‘fault’ on either driver. These drivers made ‘big boy’ decisions about racing each other. They opened their own pandora’s box – if you will – and Kenseth paid for playing hard earlier in the race with Logano playing hard at the end of the race.
For every action there is a reaction and time will tell how Kenseth reacts. Based on his post-race interview, I’d say payback is coming. Perhaps Kenseth has had a change of heart….what do you think?
As usual people professing to be race fans are not. Whether you like Logano or not, what he did was correct. Kenseth was driving in a desperate manner, Helooked nervous as he was all over the track. Both guys are paid to win, and some are saying Joey should have let Matt win. These people are not race fans. And for those screaming foul, this is racing. Harvick, Newman etc. do this stuff on a regular basis and never word. Logano does it and it is a international incident. Stupid fans and media. Play it up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So apparently, you have appointed yourself as the judge and jury for who is and is not a ‘real’ race fan. And apparently, anyone with an opinion that differs from your own is ‘stupid.’ Your post really says quite a lot about you as a person.
For starters, you obviously fall into the category of race fans debating right or wrong as referenced in the first paragraph above, and in the process the point of the article has gone over your head.
Of course, you have a right to your opinion, but you diminish your point with your demeaning language. There’s more than black and white with several shades of gray in the spectrum.
This article is not a debate about right or wrong, but food for thought including the use of skill and talent instead of emotion and a bumper to win a race in NASCAR’s top series. There are other points, but we’ll focus on that one here.
Logano raced Kenseth the way Kenseth raced him throughout the race. You’re right that bumper type of racing goes on between various drivers all the time.There’s nothing new with that point and to me it’s not about whether that point is right or wrong. It happens.
Whether Logano and Kenseth are paid to win is not a part of this particular debate. Everyone knows all drivers are paid to win. Again, nothing new here. And it’s never a racer’s mentality to ‘let’ another racer win. And, once again, nothing new. And once again and more importantly, that’s not even the point of the article.
IN MY OPINION, premier talented drivers in NASCAR’s top series are belittling their talent when engaging in bumper car racing. It’s a fact, that bumper car racing can be a double edge sword with undesired consequences. This race proves that point, and I suspect, we’ll continue to see more evidence of that down the road.
Fans of bumper car racing can watch that at a local carnival with anyone behind the wheel. NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series, in my opinion, should be about showcasing the talent and skill of their most elite drivers.
Yes, even elite drivers are entitled to their emotions with the understanding those emotions and the use of their bumper can lead to undesired consequences. Fans enjoying emotional bumper car racing are not appreciating the skill and talent of Sprint Cup Series drivers, in my opinion.
Again, I offer this article simply as food for thought. I have no problem with anyone having another point of view. I respect those able to offer their point of view without the use of statements that don’t address the point of discussion, insults and unsubstantiated judgement.
A word to the wise….Insulting is the lowest point of reference when debating a point and typically, I stop reading when insults begin. Insults by the way are an indication of one’s emotions taking over their rational thinking. It’s physically impossible for the rational part of anyone’s brain to function when emotions take over and that’s why people tend to lean on insults when in that state.
The purposeful use of insults is to serve as a smoke screen for having very little substantial to offer in supporting a perspective. Often times people employing this form of communicating seem to have limited language skills, either because their emotions have taken over or they simply have limited communication skills, disallowing them to go beyond insults and judgement to make enough sense to make their point. And in some cases, they’re so caught up in the insults and judgement, they miss the real point of the debate.
So please, blissfully play that up.