NASCAR Owes Kenseth Apology After Creating Double Standard
NASCAR better make sure they drop an ‘I’m Sorry’ card to Matt Kenseth this weekend in Martinsville after the double-standard that they created.
Last year when Matt Kenseth intentionally took Joey Logano out of the Chase race at Martinsville, NASCAR Chairman Brian France said “These actions have no place in NASCAR”. In the newest television ad for this years spring race at Martinsville, they are using clips of the incident and crowds cheering as a reason to come. Both items cannot be true, so does NASCAR have some explaining to do?
In maybe the most controversial decision for on track actions in years, NASCAR decided to suspend Matt Kenseth two races for intentionally wrecking Joey Logano during race in the chase while he was still in title contention. NASCAR’s decision was widely debated and oft criticized by NASCAR fans.
In statements after the decision Brian France, among others in NASCAR, said that Matt’s actions crossed the line and that was not what they wanted to see on the track.
"“What we’re 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 to take matters into their own hands,” France said on SiriusXM Radio’s NASCAR Channel “Morning Drive’ show. “Obviously, we won’t be accepting that. 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 we would have liked to have seen that turn out.”"
It might not be the way he would have liked it to turn out then, but now it seems OK to be using the incident to promote a NASCAR race. If “we have to make sure that we deter somebody else from doing exactly what you did or worse” according to Brian France, then why are they shown in a commercial for a track operated by NASCAR’s own International Speedway Corp.? Can NASCAR be so blind to this fact?
Matt Kenseth was suspended for two races for the incident. His place in the season ending points standings affected and he was unable to compete and collect winnings for two races. Now a facility owned by a company closely affiliated with NASCAR is generating revenue on that incident. How is that fair to Matt Kenseth? If Kenseth intentionally put other drivers in danger and damaged the integrity of NASCAR, why should it be shown in a glamorous light?
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When the NFL was penalizing players for celebrations, according to 2014 SI article by Jon Robinson, they went to the top-selling Madden video game maker EA, and had them remove celebrations that violated league rules. In the same article it is stated that the NFL had the act of a helmet being knocked off not included in the xbox 360 and PS3 versions because it conflicted with the safety improvements the NFL was implementing. EA, working with the NFL, was able to adjust the top-selling video game in the USA to meet the way it wanted its sport portrayed without alienating fans.
If Kenseth’s actions were deemed to be so egregious as to warrant a two-race suspension, then they do not belong in promotional material for the sport. If NASCAR does feel it is appropriate to use this incident to attract fans, they owe Matt Kenseth an apology, and an explanation to the rest of us.