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- Droptop2001gt
See my post from right after the race.Normally I find myself in agreement with you in this thread, but not this time.
Yes, Logano was already locked in, but that doesn't mean he was going to cruise around at Kansas and not go for the win if he could. I doubt his crew, Penske or his sponsors would be happy about that.
I also remember Joey having the faster car and making several attempts at a clean pass over a couple laps. Each time Matt threw a block and cut Joey off, and 1 or 2 of those times running Joey into the wall. I can't fault Joey for having enough of that and moving Matt out of the way, I would have done the same thing.
https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/thre...-best-race-ever.319832/page-264#post-11038244
That having been said, Logano should absolutely have gone for the win at Kansas, even though he was already locked in to the next round. His sponsors, team owner, pit crew, and fans would and should demand nothing less than 100% effort toward winning every single week from their driver.
But, the problem is how he did it.
I absolutely fault him for moving Matt out of the way. This wasn't at a one-groove track (think Martinsville, Darlington, or old Bristol) where bumping a guy out of the preferred groove is the only way of getting around him. Kansas is a multiple groove track, where you have plenty of options to get around other drivers by moving up or down the track in the corners. If the high lane is the only lane you are fast in, the leader would be stupid not to ride around in the high lane to take away your preferred line. It should be up to Logano to find another lane and make his pass cleanly. Kenseth's job is to make that pass as hard as possible, without intentionally wrecking the #22 car.
You don't have to go back that far to see how Logano feels about the legitimacy of blocking to protect a lead late in a race.
How many times in those videos did Logano block, rub, or ram the other drivers? He can't be upset with Matt at Kansas, if that's how he drives when protecting a lead.