Benny Parsons

I agree with those Matt Kenseth fans who say that even when the 2003 Cup champion wins races, he doesn't get the credit he deserves.

These fans maintain that when Kenseth succeeds he doesn't get anywhere near the glowing praise that for instance Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon or Dale Earnhardt Jr. receive for their success.

And they contend that when Kenseth tops the field, the media focuses more on what the other drivers might have encountered -- like engine failures and wrecks -- that crushed their chances at a win, than on how the efforts of Kenseth and his crew led the No. 17 of Roush Racing to Victory Lane.

But some of the fault in Kenseth not getting his just due has to be put on the driver himself. Kenseth's personality is not one like that of Junior's, who has done things like host Saturday Night Live. I don't see Kenseth doing those types of things. I don't think he'd want to do such things or be comfortable doing them.

Junior, Stewart, Gordon and some others are media darlings off the track. Kenseth is not, and doesn't appear to have much interest in concerning himself with how much publicity he receives, or how much others receive. I think he is fine with the way things are with the media.

I believe Kenseth just wants to run races, and win races. On the track, Kenseth is as good a driver as any of Cup racing's biggest stars. Personality-wise he may not have the flash and glitter the media seeks, but he gives nothing away talent-wise with his driving. His Cup championship drove home that point to all who follow stock-car racing's top series.

Q: With the amount of money involved in Nextel Cup races these days, why doesn't NASCAR look at suspending the car -- and not just the crew chief -- when it discovers a rules violation?

Jimmie Johnson's crew chief, Chad Knaus, was suspended for four races at the start of this season, and Johnson still won two of those races. If a car is suspended because of what a driver or crew chief wrongfully does, it would prove costly to sponsors and other team members, and I bet it would prove a much better deterrent than suspensions.
— Ray Dyer, Lancaster, Pa.

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A: NASCAR should continue suspending crew chiefs for rules violations and drivers for unsportsmanlike and dangerous moves on on the track, but keeping a car from racing I believe is too harsh a penalty.

A big reason why I feel this way is that fans pay money to watch their favorite drivers race in what is a sport that revolves very much around its the popularity of its drivers, especially the superstars. So for instance, to keep Jimmie Johnson's sidelined and his car parked for one race or how ever many races for something his crew chief did wrong in the end robs the paying customer more than it does the car sponsors or manufacturers.

Parking a car because of a rules violation by a crew chief or team member would also be unfair to the driver of that car because he may very well have had nothing to do with the infraction. It just can't be assumed that if a crew chief is trying to get away with illegal alterations to a car that the driver of that car knows about it. 

NASCAR has a tough job policing its sport, and I think it does it fairly. NASCAR has to keep on top of attempts to get around the rules because what it sells most is integrity. When a fan pulls for his or her favorite driver, that fan has to believe that NASCAR is ensuring nobody is getting around the rules, and that all the cars and teams in a given race take the green flag on equal ground.

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In almost all cases, these aren't flagrant violations that any stock-car racing fan can see. Instead, these are rules infractions that are very subtle, but with as competitive as the competition is nowadays, these infractions can make the difference between winning and not winning a race.

Crew chiefs and teams are always trying to gain an advantage from any area in the rules that might be a gray area, where it's not crystal clear as to the exact meaning or interpretation of a rule. Sometimes in doing this, crew chiefs and teams overboard.

What Knaus did in making an unapproved modification to the No. 48 car of Hendrick Motorsports before Daytona qualifying was overboard. Knaus went too far, and NASCAR served him with a four-race suspension. I felt that in Knaus' case, the penalty fit the crime.

And crew chiefs aren't the only ones who NASCAR should tightly police. Drivers who deliberately wreck a competitor's car and put it out of a race, should also be made to pay a severe price.

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