RELATED: NASCAR suspends Kenseth | Drivers react to ruling
Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin, a teammate of Matt Kenseth, said Tuesday night on FS1’s “Race Hub” that Kenseth was upholding the “driver code” when he tangled with Joey Logano on Sunday at Martinsville Speedway.
The penalty of a two-race suspension — which NASCAR handed out to Kenseth on Tuesday — was therefore too harsh, Hamlin said.
“There’s an unspoken driver code,” Hamlin said. “We talk about this a lot. A lot of fans don’t understand what driver code is, (but) any race car driver that has been doing this long enough understands what driver code is. I feel like the driver code that’s been established for — since racing began, 100 years ago — that driver code is more compromised now than ever.
“NASCAR said in years past — they said this year — that they like the drivers to police themselves. Matt was policing himself and he was policing the driver code, in my opinion.”
NASCAR on Tuesday suspended Kenseth for two races following Sunday’s on-track incident in which Kenseth, multiple laps down at the time, drove Logano, leading at the time, into the fence with less than 50 laps remaining.
Joe Gibbs Racing announced it would appeal the penalty. NASCAR announced it would expedite the appeals process.
Still, the ruling didn’t sit well with the driver of the No. 11 Toyota.
“You know, they digest a lot,” Hamlin said of NASCAR. “And they are the parent figure within our organization and tell us what the rules are. We try to play by them every week. Sometimes those rules are gray.”