American racer Matt Kenseth has been suspended for two races after he deliberately hit Joey Logano's race car last Sunday at the Martinsville Speedway.

Fox Sports noted that Kenseth will not be able to participate on the race at the Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday and the next week at the Phoenix International Raceway.

It added that he can only participate on the season finale which will be held at the Homestead-Miami Speedway.

In suspending Kenseth, NASCAR explained that his violation was included under Sections 12.1, 12.8 of the racing venture's rule book.

"Based upon our extensive review, we have concluded that the No. 20 car driver (Kenseth), who is no longer in the Chase, intentionally wrecked the No. 22 car driver (Logano), a Chase-eligible competitor who was leading the race at the time," said NASCAR executive vice president Steve O'Donnell in a statement.

He added that Kenseth's vehicle was nine laps down and it eliminated Logano's chance to compete in the race.

"Additionally, we factored aspects of safety into our decision, and also the fact that the new Chase elimination format puts a premium on each and every race. These actions have no place in NASCAR," O'Donnell was quoted by Fox Sports as saying.

Meanwhile, ESPN noted that Kenseth's Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) will appeal the racer's suspension.

"The appeal will challenge the severity of the penalty, which is believed to be inconsistent with previous penalties for similar on-track incidents," JGR said in a statement published by ESPN.

USA Today added that three members from the National Stock Car Racing Commission panel will look into the appeal and hear it and the proceedings are expected to be expedited as per NASCAR's request.

Sunday's incident, according to the NASCAR website, was apparently Kenseth's payback for Logano after the latter knocked him out of the way in a Kansas race two weeks ago.

Of the 500 laps of the race, Logano led 207 and he was truly furious for the outcome with him noting that what happened in Kansas was an entirely different thing.

"We were racing for the win, and he blocks you a few times, and then we raced hard and he blocked me the last time and we spun out. That's what happened there," Logano explained.

He noted that Sunday's incident was a "coward move" coming from his opponent.

"Just a complete coward. I don't have anything else to say. It's a chicken-you-know-what move to completely take out the leader when your race is over," he added.

In a recent statement quoted by USA Today, Logano's camp said that they considered the incident truly disappointing but said that they will remain focused on winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway this weekend.