Scott's Pit Box: NASCAR needs more drivers with integrity and dignity

As a long time fan of NASCAR since the 1980s, I was very disgusted to see Matt Kenseth pile drive Joey Logano in the wall at Martinsville Speedway last week.  I have been a fan of this sport since I was probably four years old, and the last two weeks I have witnessed two races bring a black eye on this sport have grown up with.

I never can remember Mark Martin retaliating on someone

As a long-time fan of Mark Martin I never once witnessed Mark take someone out intentionally with anger. In the last few years this sport has changed into more of an entertainment business than it is a sport.  It just isn't true racing anymore, when guys go out and they take each other out whenever they want to go.  I know a lot of people are not going to agree with me, but this is fact, I know something that did not happen; Mark Martin didn't do this and who did Kenseth get mentored by?  Yeah that's right Mark Martin.

The interesting thing is fans want to praise Kenseth for what he did on Sunday and think that NASCAR put too much on him with the two-race suspension.  In my opinion he should have gotten worse because he destroyed two very expensive race cars and when he drove Logano into the wall it became a safety concern.  Then you throw on top of that, Kenseth took out a championship contender while he was leading the race and possibly on his way to winning his fourth straight event.

You can put up races like Earnhardt and Labonte from 95 and 99, the few incidents that Jeff Gordon and Rusty Wallace had while racing for a win at Richmond but don't compare them to what happened this past weekend.  Here's why:  They were racing hard for a victory.  Kenseth was 9 laps down to the race leader and he deliberately took out Logano and that's what makes this so different.  It is dirty and cold.

This past weekend Trevor Bayne could have easily taken Kevin Harvick out for what he did in Talladega.  However, Bayne did something much different than Kenseth did to make things tougher on Harvick.  While struggling with a car laps down he held Harvick up and made it tougher for the other driver to pass.  Like a member of our group said we still have drivers left that have integrity left, Trevor Bayne being one of them.  One that doesn't use horrible foul language on the radio, blame others for wrecks, whine about the car they're giving, have constant negative interviews, and be ungrateful to his team.  Fans are getting what they want and it is sad.

The sport has a big black eye over its face right now.

When the past two weeks we've seen fans throwing beer cans over the wall at Talladega and Martinsville, that just shows what kind of state this sport is.  We've got a bunch of hillbilly drunks in that stands that want to throw beer cans at drivers then they don't need to be in the stands.  The same way with drivers wanting to play judge and jury on the race track.  The sport has taken a huge change since Bill France Jr., passed away and handed it over to his son.

As I stated before this has become more of an entertainment series than real racing.  Popularity matters more than standards and NASCAR needs to get that straightened out as they've now set a strict standard with what Kenseth did this past week.  Next season if Jimmy Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Danica Patrick or Carl Edwards wrecks someone the way Kenseth did on Sunday; they deserve the same punishment as the precedence has been set by the sport.  There shouldn't be any free ride if you are the most popular driver in the sport.