Keselowski polesitter for Sprint Cup Chase race at Texas

UPDATE: The final appeal also upheld the penalty against Kenseth, so he is officially out of the 20 vehicle for the next two races. The original probation period given was amended from six months to now through December 31, 2015.

The southern Wisconsin native failed to have his suspension reduced or overturned yesterday (Thursday) in two appeals before a national motor-sports panel and final appeals’ officer Bryan Moss. The appeal initially was turned down by a three-person panel on Thursday morning.

That said, JGR is expected to enter Erik Jones, now leading the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series point-standings, as Kenseth’s replacement for Sunday’s 334-lap/501-mile event around TMS’ high-banked, 1.5-mile quadoval.

Added Carl Edwards, Kenseth’s teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing: “It was definitely a shock, the [Kenseth] penalty to me”.

“Growing up, Terry Labonte, Ricky Rudd, those are guys you just did not mess with because you knew they would retaliate”. But I’m going to look at the silver lining of this one…. I think that people will go about it differently now because of what happened this week, for sure.

The crash was in retribution for contact the two made at Kansas Speedway while racing for the lead. The case then went to Moss, and the burden of proof changed from NASCAR having to prove its case to Kenseth having to prove his. When the dust settled, Jeff Gordon had won the race to advance to the Championship race at Homestead-Miami.

Steve O’Donnell, the executive vice president official, said Kenseth’s actions “have no place in NASCAR”.

“The No. 20 vehicle was nine laps down and eliminated the No. 22 car’s opportunity to continue to compete in the race”. Additionally, we factored aspects of safety into our decision, and also the fact that the new Chase elimination format puts a premium on each and every race.

In short, NASCAR was placed in a no-win situation after Martinsville. I had two chances to win, I think, in the last three weeks and I got wrecked out of both of them going for the lead.

“I’m the first driver in the 65-year history of NASCAR to get suspended for an incident that happened in the Sprint Cup Series race”, Kenseth pointed out.

“I know there’s a lot of discussion about consistency in our penalties and there should be and that’s part of the equation”, France said.

Logano rebuffed the notion that his perceived arrogance had stoked a feud with Kenseth and tainted the view of fans.

The Team Penske tandem of Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski could be in trouble.

After making his truck debut with Shigeaki Hattori at Martinsville Speedway last weekend and finishing 17th, the 22-year-old racer will reprise his role in the team’s No. 80 Camry at the one-mile track.

Kenseth was 10 laps down when he targeted and took out Logano at Martinsville.

Gordon understood Kenseth’s frustration, and didn’t mind that he knocked the two best cars from the race and cleared the path for him to get to a pivotal victory lane.

When Matt Kenseth steered Joey Logano into the wall, the crowd roared its approval as a veteran driver delivered old-school payback.

Fans cheered when Kenseth slammed into Team Penske’s No. 22 Ford.