Matt Kenseth Calls NASCAR Penalties 'Grossly Unfair' and 'Borderline Shameful'

Kenseth and crew chief Ratliffe hit hard with penalties 

RICHMOND, Va. — A bitter Matt Kenseth believes NASCAR was “borderline shameful” in penalizing his Joe Gibbs Racing team so severely for having one engine connecting rod under the minimum weight at Kansas Speedway.

NASCAR docked Kenseth and his team 50 points in the driver and owner standings, suspended crew chief Jason Ratcliff for seven weeks, fined Ratcliff $200,000 and froze the team’s owner points for six weeks.

Ratcliff’s suspension and the loss of owner points are expected to be deferred pending an appeal. No date for the appeal has been set.

JGR gets its engines from Toyota Racing Development, which took the blame for one connecting rod being 2.7 grams under the minimum 525 grams.

“The penalties are grossly unfair,” Kenseth said Thursday at Richmond International Raceway, the site of this weekend’s Sprint Cup race. “It’s borderline shameful.

“There’s no argument the part was wrong. They weighed it and it was wrong. However, there is an argument. There was certainly no performance advantage if you can find any unbiased, reputable, knowledgeable engine builder and they saw the facts.”

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