2003 champion says everyone has breaking point
MORE: Keselowski responds | Full timeline of events in Kenseth-Keselowski dust up
RELATED: Follow your picks in the Perfect Chase Grid Challenge for chance at $100,000 prize
TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Everyone has his or her "breaking point," Matt Kenseth said, and the Joe Gibbs Racing driver reached his following contact from Brad Keselowski during and after Saturday night's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Kenseth pursued the Team Penske driver moments after the completion of the Bank of America 500, grabbing Keselowski before crewmen from both teams, along with officials, rushed in to separate the two drivers.
"Last week it was bad enough to run bad all night and to be frustrated; then get two tires and get toward the front (near the end of the race) -- Brad clearly saw me roll outside of him and he hung a right on purpose and he ran me right into the wall, ruined my night and possibly took us out of Chase contention," Kenseth said Friday at Talladega Superspeedway. "So I was mad enough about that. To come down afterward and have your (safety equipment) off and your net down and come and pull those high school stunts … after the race is just absolutely unacceptable.
"That definitely put me over the edge. I don't regret my actions; I'm not proud of them or happy about them or anything like that. … But I don't regret them. I don't know that I'd do anything different if the same thing would have gone down again."
Keselowski moved up the track during a late-race restart, thwarting Kenseth's momentum and resulting in contact with the wall.
Later, with six laps remaining, Kenseth was one of several drivers to take the wave around to get back on the lead lap without pitting. At that time, he said Friday, he did "swerve" at Keselowski "because I was mad he put me in the wall and totally ruined my day."
Keselowski said after the race that Kenseth "came back and swung at my car and tore the front of the car off."
Kenseth said the 2012 champion "is greatly exaggerating."
"If you watch video you can see he had no marks on his right front of his car after that," Kenseth said. "He said it tore his whole right front off. … That was just him greatly exaggerating the story."
As the field began to make its way to pit road, Keselowski attempted to spin Denny Hamlin (JGR), then struck the side of Kenseth's car as they came onto pit road.
Keselowski ran into the back of Tony Stewart after hitting Kenseth. Stewart reacted by putting his car in reverse and backing into Keselowski, crumpling the front end of the No. 2 Ford.
Hamlin attempted to confront Keselowski in the garage area, but all parties had gone their separate ways when Kenseth went after the Team Penske driver.
"I just wanted to get to him, I guess," Kenseth said. "Not sure what I wanted to do when I got there. It was obvious I didn't really have a plan, right?
"You never want to get into confrontations, at least I don't. I like to avoid them. I'm definitely not built for fighting; it's not really in my genes, it's not something I ever really want to do."
NASCAR fined Keselowski ($50,000) and Stewart ($25,000) for their actions and placed both drivers on probation for the next four NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events. The sanctioning body did not penalize Kenseth or Hamlin.
Three of the four -- Kenseth, Keselowski and Hamlin -- are among 10 drivers vying for one of eight spots in the Eliminator Round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Two spots have already been determined, with wins by Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick automatically advancing those two drivers.
Hamlin enters Sunday's GEICO 500 (ESPN, 2 p.m. ET) seventh in points; Kenseth and Keselowski are two of four drivers currently outside the top eight, along with six-time champion Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
"I was probably more upset about getting (run) into the wall than I would have maybe been on week two of the season," Kenseth said. "There's probably a little bit (of frustration) there and some of that is frustration from the season of not running to our potential and being taken out of the Chase."
Kenseth, the 2003 series champion, won seven races with JGR last year in his first season with the organization, but is winless thus far this year.
"The stuff afterward of getting hit after the race, my reaction to that was besides taking my stuff off and thinking it's ridiculous to get hurt after a race is over by somebody acting like a little kid using a car for a weapon," he said. "I thought that was ridiculous, but that's the second time he's done that this year just to me. After the Richmond race he came and wiped us out down in Turn 2 and then came down pit road and took another slug at me and knocked the side off our car.
"Besides people having to pay for (the cars) and work on them and all that stuff, it's just not acceptable. After that happening again was probably most of my reaction."
MORE:
READ: Latest
|
PLAY: Monitor your Chase Grid Game picks
|
WATCH: Latest
|
FOLLOW LIVE: Get
|
|---|