Kenseth loses appeal to reverse suspension

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — His appeals rejected, Matt Kenseth defiantly vowed Thursday to race as he always has and accused NASCAR of “unfairly” making an example out of him with a two-race suspension for intentionally wrecking Joey Logano over the weekend at Martinsville.

Kenseth will miss the next two races, at Texas and Phoenix, and is eligible to return for the Nov. 22 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The national motorsports appeals panel denied Kenseth’s appeal Thursday and a few hours later so did final appeals officer Bryan Moss, who did reduce Kenseth’s probation from six months until the end of this year.

Kenseth said he was “unfairly made the example” because NASCAR had no clear rule on what the penalties are for intentionally wrecking another driver in an act of retaliation.

“I am not going to change who I am, I’m not going to change what I stand for, I’m not going to change how I race,” Kenseth said. “I’ve been in this business a long time, I feel I’ve had a pretty good career to this point and I feel like I’m going to continue to have the respect on the race track that I feel I deserve.”

NASCAR has not been consistent over the years in punishing drivers who exact revenge. Kenseth was spun out three races ago by Logano as both raced for the win at Kansas, ruining a chance to advance in NASCAR’s championship playoffs. On Sunday, he deliberately crashed into Logano at Martinsville, and Logano lost a shot at an automatic berth in the final four.

Danica Patrick was fined $50,000 for wrecking another driver in retaliation Sunday, but it was Kenseth’s penalty that raised eyebrows.

Kenseth was harshly punished to deter any driver from doing the same thing, NASCAR chairman Brian France told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Wednesday.