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Matt Kenseth: Joey Logano ‘lying’ about not intentionally spinning him

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series CampingWorld.com 500 - Practice

TALLADEGA, AL - OCTOBER 23: Matt Kenseth, driver of the #20 DeWalt Toyota, stands in the garage area during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series CampingWorld.com 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on October 23, 2015 in Talladega, Alabama. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

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TALLADEGA, Ala. - Matt Kenseth says that Joey Logano was “lying” when he claimed last weekend that he did not intentionally spin Kenseth to win at Kansas Speedway.

“Some day he might mature a little bit, but, first of all, he should have stopped running his mouth, and, number two, he’s lying when he said he didn’t do it on purpose because he lifted your tires off the ground offset to the left and he’s too good a race car driver to do that by accident,’’ Kenseth said Friday at Talladega Superspeedway.

Kenseth led in the final laps and blocked Logano. They made contact, causing Kenseth to spin. Logano won the race.

Asked last weekend if he intentionally spun Kenseth, Logano said: “No, no, I think we both went for the same piece of real estate. We both went into that corner hard. I wanted to get position and get to the inside of him, and then he went for the same piece of real estate, as well. I wanted that second lane to be able to stay on the inside of him.’’

NASCAR Chairman Brian France called Logano’s move “quintessential NASCAR’’ on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio earlier this week. Kenseth joked that he didn’t understand what quintessential means and would be able to better answer that question when he finds out.

One thing Kenseth is certain of, though, is that he wouldn’t do anything different.

“Well, I wouldn’t have done anything differently because I didn’t do anything wrong,’’ he said. “I did everything I was supposed to do. I tried to get away. He drove the car in the wall himself twice. I don’t know how you can possibly either, ‘A,’ block someone or put somebody in the wall when they’re not up alongside you – it’s pretty talented if you can do that when somebody’s four feet behind you, so, no, I did everything I could to win the race.

“That’s the way I’d race to win any race ... race as hard as you can and do whatever you can, be clean about it and go as fast as I could go and that’s all I was doing. I got hit from behind. I couldn’t do anything about that. I couldn’t change that.”

Kenseth said he has not heard from Logano since the incident.

Kenseth likely needs to win Sunday’s race at Talladega Superspeedway to advance to the next round. Otherwise, the title hopes for the five-time winner this season will end.

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