Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano had been dicing with each other all throughout the Hollywood Casino 400 and Kenseth going into the last few laps of the race. Kenseth tried to block and keep Logano behind him with five laps to go, and that’s when Logano got into Kenseth’s back end and spun him out.
Logano explained to reporters afterwards that he was just giving Kenseth a little bit of his own medicine, as quoted by NBC Sports:
It was good hard racing. We raced each other real hard. I felt like I got pinched twice on the straightaways. He raced me hard and I raced him hard back. If I get raced like that, I’ll race the same way. That’s just the way I’ve been and I’ll always be that way.
Kenseth finished 14th, which is not good for a driver looking to advance to the next round of the playoff-style Chase for the Sprint Cup. A win here would have gained him automatic entry into the next round of the Chase, which is why Kenseth was fuming mad after the race. Kenseth crashed out in the previous race in this round of the Chase, so barring a miracle at Talladega, it’s unlikely for him to advance to the next round.
Don’t expect any punches to be thrown over this one. Kenseth is so mad, he doesn’t even want to talk to Logano about it. Kenseth told reporters, as quoted by NBC Sports:
I pulled up in front of him and he just lifted my tires off the ground and wrecked me. I won’t talk to Joey. I don’t have anything to talk to him about really. … I’ve always raced him with a ton of respect and have been one of his biggest fans. I’m certainly not anymore.
Ouch.
Logano now extends his lead in this round of the Chase, having run the past two races. Everyone else is just trying to catch up.
Photo credit: Getty Images
Contact the author at stef.schrader@jalopnik.com.