If Joey Logano doesn't win the Sprint Cup championship this year, it's his own fault.
If he doesn't make it to the championship race on Nov. 22, he will have only himself to blame.
Kenseth paid a heavy price , drawing a two-race suspension from NASCAR. But it's Logano who has the most to lose.
He was dominating the Chase for the Sprint Cup, winning three consecutive races, and emerged as the overwhelming favorite to win his first championship. But he might have thrown it all away when he chose to race Kenseth too aggressively and take him out at Kansas. Logano got greedy and paid the price.
And the full debt might not yet be paid.
After last week's crash, Logano enters Sunday's race at Texas eighth and last in the Chase's Eliminator Round. To make the final four at Homestead-Miami, he must now win at Texas or Phoenix. If he does not, his championship hopes will be over, left in a heap of crumpled sheet metal at Martinsville.
Logano is an outstanding driver and is emerging as NASCAR's next big star, but he has the same problem that plagues many young drivers. He must learn when to push and when to back off. He must learn where the line is, when you can cross it and when you cannot.
Logano is supremely talented, but he lets his hard-charging, aggressive style get in his way. He's like Bull Durham's Nuke LaLoosh, the pitcher with the "million dollar arm and 10-cent head."
Logano didn't have to spin Kenseth at Kansas. He was going for the win, but he didn't have to force the issue. He had a faster car and could have waited for an opportunity to make a clean pass. Instead, he tried to force his way past Kenseth.
Logano won the race, costing Kenseth a victory and ultimately knocking him out of the Chase.
Logano ruined Kenseth's season, which is why Kenseth retaliated at Martinsville.
Logano has been making questionable moves his whole career. He wrecked Denny Hamlin while racing for the win at California in 2013 a crash that left Hamlin with a broken back. The move looked particularly bad since Hamlin and Logano had feuded the previous week, and Logano threatened Hamlin.
In the same California race, Logano angered Tony Stewart by blocking and running him onto the apron of the track, earning a tongue-lashing from Stewart.
Those are just two examples of Logano pushing too hard, crossing the line and angering his peers. He had similar run-ins with Kevin Harvick, Ryan Newman and Mark Martin, the veteran driver who was once Logano's biggest supporter.
I didnt talk to anyone really after the race. I went on with my own thing and started figuring out how to win at Texas. The message sent obviously is that you cant do that. Joey Logano
Logano's track record has cost him respect among fans and his peers. He was booed unmercifully at Martinsville, and the overwhelming cheers when Kenseth wrecked him said a lot about Logano's standing.
What's worse, Logano showed little remorse nor willingness to back down or change. The fact that he did not take responsibility for the Kenseth crash or attempt to reach out to him and settle their dispute was perhaps a greater sin than wrecking him.
"When someone does you wrong, you have an opportunity to defuse the situation by a phone call or talking to you at the race, any kind of thing like that," Hamlin said. "None of that happened and that probably frustrated Matt. So Matt thought it was in his driver code to take care of the situation. And that's what he did."
Logano has hard lessons to learn and serious changes to make in his racing style and approach. Other drivers learned them on their way to becoming stars.
Harvick, Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski, Logano's teammate, have all had to curb their aggressiveness and learn to respect their peers. Each had numerous problems with other drivers, and paid the consequences. Harvick and Busch drew NASCAR suspensions, and Keselowski was wrecked more than once by angry drivers.
All three learned their lesson. All three have matured into respectful and successful racers.
Logano must learn, too, or he will never reach his ultimate goal a Sprint Cup championship.
He might already have cost himself one.
Provided in part by Sporting News
updated by @johnny-mallonee: 12/05/16 04:04:08PM
