Post by dalejrfan on Mar 27, 2006 1:57:11 GMT -5
What was with Kenseth and Gordon? No consensus yet, but NASCAR officials might follow up
BRISTOL, Tenn. – Matt Kenseth was looking to apologize.
Jeff Gordon? Well, he was looking for something else.
Minutes after Sunday's wild Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway came to a close, Kenseth was just getting out of his No. 17 Ford on pit road when he saw Gordon's No. 24 Chevrolet pull in behind him.
Several laps before the finish, Kenseth had hit Gordon from behind while battling for position, leaving Gordon – who ran among the leaders the entire race – with a 21st-place finish. Kenseth, himself bumped out of the way by eventual race winner Kurt Busch, finished third.
Before beginning any media interviews, Kenseth walked over to the No. 24. Gordon, who had just climbed out of his car and was still wearing his helmet and HANS device, rushed up to meet Kenseth and shoved him hard in the chest with both arms.
The two were separated by crew members and NASCAR officials before anything further transpired. Both were summoned to the NASCAR hauler after the race to discuss the incident.
Two NASCAR officials, who were on pit road at the time of the incident, said Gordon came close to knocking Kenseth off his feet.
NASCAR said it will review the incident and any penalties would be announced early this week.
"It was my fault that I took Jeff out. I didn't mean to get in the back of him but I did," Kenseth said. "I probably should have known better than to go over there, but I just think that when you do something wrong you should try to be a man about it and apologize.
"That wasn't going to bring his finish back, so I should have probably known better than to go over there to start with."
Gordon was still hot about the incident well after the race.
"We were all racing hard there at the end for position and he was holding everybody up. I got into him and definitely was a little faster and moved him up the race track," Gordon said.
"We went down into (Turn) 1 and he decided to wreck me instead. I am sorry that it happened. I like racing with Matt. I certainly did not enjoy racing with him today.
"I showed him my displeasure. I get fired up, too. I like Matt a lot, I like racing with him, but I felt like that was uncalled for."
__________________
BRISTOL, Tenn. – Matt Kenseth was looking to apologize.
Jeff Gordon? Well, he was looking for something else.
Minutes after Sunday's wild Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway came to a close, Kenseth was just getting out of his No. 17 Ford on pit road when he saw Gordon's No. 24 Chevrolet pull in behind him.
Several laps before the finish, Kenseth had hit Gordon from behind while battling for position, leaving Gordon – who ran among the leaders the entire race – with a 21st-place finish. Kenseth, himself bumped out of the way by eventual race winner Kurt Busch, finished third.
Before beginning any media interviews, Kenseth walked over to the No. 24. Gordon, who had just climbed out of his car and was still wearing his helmet and HANS device, rushed up to meet Kenseth and shoved him hard in the chest with both arms.
The two were separated by crew members and NASCAR officials before anything further transpired. Both were summoned to the NASCAR hauler after the race to discuss the incident.
Two NASCAR officials, who were on pit road at the time of the incident, said Gordon came close to knocking Kenseth off his feet.
NASCAR said it will review the incident and any penalties would be announced early this week.
"It was my fault that I took Jeff out. I didn't mean to get in the back of him but I did," Kenseth said. "I probably should have known better than to go over there, but I just think that when you do something wrong you should try to be a man about it and apologize.
"That wasn't going to bring his finish back, so I should have probably known better than to go over there to start with."
Gordon was still hot about the incident well after the race.
"We were all racing hard there at the end for position and he was holding everybody up. I got into him and definitely was a little faster and moved him up the race track," Gordon said.
"We went down into (Turn) 1 and he decided to wreck me instead. I am sorry that it happened. I like racing with Matt. I certainly did not enjoy racing with him today.
"I showed him my displeasure. I get fired up, too. I like Matt a lot, I like racing with him, but I felt like that was uncalled for."
__________________