Joey Logano is ‘more focused than ever’ after dustup with Matt Kenseth

Joey Logano has no regrets. No retreat. No surrender. Cue Bruce Springsteen soundtrack.

The ramifications of his contentious and controversial dustup with Matt Kenseth at Martinsville last weekend are significant. NASCAR suspended Kenseth for two races for initiating contact and taking Logano out of the race. Logano is out of the championship picture unless he wins here at Texas Motor Speedway this weekend or next Sunday at Phoenix.

“What happened has happened,” Logano said Friday at Texas Motor Speedway. “It is in the past at this point. It is in the rearview mirror. The only way we will stay in the Chase is if we keep looking out the windshield. To be honest, I am not convinced it is a bad thing. Our team is more fired up than ever. I am more focused than ever. “

He needs to be. At 25, Logano has a wise-beyond-his-years thing going for him. Logano has held steadfast, saying he did nothing wrong a few weeks back at Kansas when he bumped Kenseth out of the way for the victory. That triggered Kenseth’s retaliatory move.

That’s racin’. Or maybe not, depending on who you cheer for in the garage.

The blood feud between Logano and Kenseth certainly has blurred the lines of right and wrong. Many fans celebrated Kenseth for taking Logano out at Martinsville and then went to Twitter to rip him some more. All you need to do is follow the #freeMatt hashtags.

“I was disgusted by it,” Logano said of the fans’ reaction. “That is not what any racer would expect out of it. But I am going to look at the silver lining on this one. There were more No. 22 t-shirts and Joey Logano t-shirts and hats walking around when I was walking out of Martinsville that I noticed. There were more fans rooting for me now than ever before. That is pretty cool.”

There are unwritten codes in every sport. In NASCAR, a driver usually reaches out to another driver if they are involved in a incident that ruins the race for the other driver. That certainly happened to Kenseth in Kansas.

Still, Logano maintained radio silence. He used an incident from the spring race in Texas, where Kevin Harvick nudged him out of the way in the closing laps.

“I took that risk and I knew the consequences,” Logano said. “He moved me out of the way. I said that is what I had coming to me.”

And so the dance continues this week without Kenseth. Erik Jones will drive the No. 20 car at Texas this week for Joe Gibbs Racing. The pack pushes on, with only Jeff Gordon having a spot secured for the Final Four title race on Nov. 22 in Homestead-Miami thanks to his victory at Martinsville.

For the rest of the Chase drivers, everything remains in play. NASCAR has offered up an asterisk to the “Boys, Have At It” rules of engagement. There are limits to the chaos, like taking another driver out when you are 10 laps downs, as Kenseth did last weekend.

“Everything is escalating in the Chase each week,” said Martin Truex Jr., another Chase qualifier still in contention. “There’s more on the line. Every position means more at each and every one of these races.”

Only Truex and Kyle Busch — each eight points behind Gordon — have some wiggle room. Logano does not. He had won three consecutive races heading into Martinsville. And he was dominating that race as well, leading 207 laps before Kenseth came chugging along to take him out. Logano finished 37th.

This Sunday, win-and-you’re-in is his only option.

In Friday’s qualifying, Logano secured the No. 4 starting spot. Brad Keselowski won the pole with a fast lap of 196.929 mph. Defending season champ Harvick will start second, with Busch third.

“Is it the way we wanted it to go?” Logano said. “No, of course not. Did we get the finish we felt we deserved that day? No, but this team has plenty of confidence coming off three in a row and in position for four. There is plenty of confidence and more drive than there has ever been. I am not convinced this whole thing is a bad thing.”

gdiaz@tribune.com