NASCAR: Two Wrongs Still Don’t Equal A Right

By Mike Hutton | Nov 4, 2015

Amber Searls-USA TODAY Sports

NASCAR has issued penalties to Matt Kenseth and Danica Patrick for their actions at Martinsville. Kenseth was suspended from competition for two races and placed on probation for six months. Patrick was fined $50,000, docked 25 driver points and placed on probation until December 31. Each driver was penalized for the same infraction, and the same sections of the NASCAR rulebook were cited with regard to each driver’s actions. Why then the two differing penalties? I always was told that two wrongs don’t make a right.

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Do I feel Kenseth should have been suspended? Yes – but not for two races. Either one race or all three that remain would have been appropriate, in my opinion. I would have preferred three. Three races would have sent a clear message that deliberate actions such as his will not be tolerated at all. It certainly would have made any other driver who was considering the same in the future to think twice, and Matt probably never again.

But what does a two-race suspension prove? Are we to think that Matt comes back just for the season finale in Homestead? What does that accomplish, other than giving him another shot at Joey if the No. 22 is to somehow win at either Texas or Phoenix and still advance to the Championship Round of the Chase. Although, if Matt is dumb enough to take another shot at Joey in two weeks after all of this, he’ll deserve something even bigger.

My prediction is that Matt’s appeal will be heard before the Texas race, and that the suspension will be reduced to one race instead of two. The appeals committee has been softening penalties lately. NASCAR would have then had its opportunity to make a bold statement reduced to something that really won’t impact Matt very much. That’s the first “wrong” I see from today’s penalties.

Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports

And what about Patrick? She called her shot too and then took it. The difference is that she called it for two hours, not two weeks. She also executed it very poorly. Nonetheless, it was executed and was wrong. The other differences:

David Gilliland wrecked her initially on Sunday
Gilliland wasn’t a contender in the race, nor was she
Gilliland wasn’t a contender in the Chase
She wasn’t nine laps down to Gilliland, didn’t wait for him and didn’t pile-drive him to a wall

I agree that while the actions are the same and equally as wrong from both her and Kenseth, hers had less of an impact on the race, the Chase and the sport in general. However a two-race suspension and a fine/points penalty are too different in severity for the same offense.

In my opinion, Patrick should have been suspended for one race and also placed on probation for six months. That’s the second “wrong” here on NASCAR’s part today.

So there it is, or there it should be: Kenseth with a three-race sit-down and Patrick with one. That would have sent a clear message that it doesn’t matter if you’re a race contender/Chase contender/leader or a back marker laps down to the leaders fighting for 20-something or 30-something place, if you intentionally wreck someone with the intent to end their day, you’re going to be the one suspended… not them.

NASCAR missed that opportunity on Tuesday.

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