RELATED: Logano: 'Complete coward move' | Photos of Sunday's incident
If there's anyone who knows about getting retribution on a championship-eligible driver, it's Martinsville-winner Jeff Gordon.
Gordon, who effectively ended Clint Bowyer's title hopes by taking out his No. 15 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota at Phoenix in 2012, was asked about Sunday's incident in which Matt Kenseth -- off the lead lap at the time -- wrecked a race-leading Joey Logano two weeks after Logano initiated contact with Kenseth at Kansas.
His initial reaction?
"Wow," Gordon told Dan Patrick on his radio show. "I had kind of forgotten about it; their issue. I was right behind Matt when the whole wreck happened the first time that kind of took him out of the race. It was a racing incident, but at the same time, I wasn't putting two and two together at the time of 'Oh, boy, here comes the redemption.' I thought it was the 2 car (of Brad Keselowski) that got into Matt, not the 22. When I watched it happen, I was like 'Oh, my gosh. Did I just see that happen?'
"Of course, for me, the 22 at that time was the biggest threat that we had on the race track to win that race. Things started adding up for me and our team."
Logano had led a race-high 207 laps to that point and appeared set to wind up in Victory Lane for the fourth straight week to clinch a Championship Round berth before the 20 car intervened. Kenseth, out of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup after the 22 car bumped him while leading at Kansas, certainly appeared determined to make sure Logano faced the same fate.
The move allowed Gordon to take control of the race -- and the Chase standings -- with two races remaining in the Eliminator Round, leaving Logano in last place and searching for answers.
"Since then, I've had a lot of things go through my mind in that incident. I had a similar incident with Clint Bowyer several years ago, so I can relate to Matt," Gordon said. "He was taken out of a race win and a shot at the championship in Kansas and right or wrong, when that happens, you aren't going to forget it. You are going to take that win or championship away from someone else if you get that opportunity and that's exactly what happened."
Gordon has had issues with Team Penske drivers before -- we're approaching the anniversary of the four-time champion's melee with Logano's teammate Keselowski at Texas Motor Speedway -- and seemed to side with fellow 40-plus-year-old Kenseth, who Gordon says he has a "tremendous amount of respect for," despite their own run-ins with each other.
But was the controversial move fair?
RELATED: Was Kenseth right to wreck Logano?
"Life's not always fair," Gordon said. "Here's the way I look at it. Joey's been amazing this year and he's not done yet; I think they can still make it to Homestead and be a major threat. I think he's the favorite to win this championship.
"Had Joey handled that situation at Kansas slightly better … I mean, he was gloating about it. He was like, 'Oh, yeah. That's exactly the way I should've raced and he blocked me.' That's fine if you feel that way, but guess what? That's not helping the situation and how (Kenseth's) going to think about you and not even think twice if he gets in that scenario and in that situation. That's what I learned in my situation with Bowyer. Yeah, I had regrets. I wish I'd handled it differently, but I also know my raw emotions came out and I reacted. But it's how you handle it from that point moving forward as to what is going to help you get through it. That goes from both sides; from Joey's side as well as from Matt's side."
In short, Gordon thinks Kenseth felt "like he was disrespected and that he wasn't going to stand for it anymore."
As the series now turns to Texas -- known for its hot action on the track and on pit road following the race, it'll be interesting to see what unfolds, as neither driver has any strikes left to give.
RELATED: Logano tweets message saying he 'will fight'
"It's a three strikes and you're out-type situation," Gordon said. "The Kansas thing happened; that's strike one. They had some issues at Talladega; that's strike two. And then boom, this happens at Martinsville and it's strike three, that's it. I've lost any amount of integrity at this moment because my raw emotions and frustrations have now taken over.
"I think anyone that was in that position, who's a competitor and has driven a race car, I think, yeah, it's a good chance -- 90 percent of the time -- they do the same thing."