NASCAR also explains why Ryan Preece was issued a penalty after the race at Texas Motor Speedway
Over the weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series raced at Texas Motor Speedway. During the race, there were multiple on-track incidents that NASCAR was forced to review for a possible penalty.
NASCAR penalty report after Texas Motor Speedway
First, Ryan Preece wasn’t happy with the way he was being raced by Ty Gibbs. He was vocal on the radio about it. Laps later, Preece got into the bumper of Gibbs, sending him into the wall.
NASCAR elected to issue a $50,000 fine as well as a point penalty to Preece.
Later in the race, Kyle Busch and John Hunter Nemechek made contact off turn two. When they entered turn three, Busch drove it deep to the inside of Nemechek and doored him. Nemechek was sent into the outside wall as a result.
The two incidents were similar but not identical. NASCAR elected not to issue a penalty to Kyle Busch. And they explain how they came to that decision…
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NASCAR comments on the Ryan Preece penalty
“In the review of this one we do look at all available resources,” Mike Forde stated via ‘Hauler Talk‘.
“We do want to be consistent. Sometimes NASCAR does get criticized for being consistently inconsistent. We look at prior instances and there’s always going to be differences.”
“The deliberation on how we wanted to handle this one was the Denny Hamlin penalty. When he wrecked Ross Chastain at Phoenix a few years ago then the next day, talked about it on his podcast.”
“He [Preece] said what he said. And then he did what he said. In our view, it was intentionally wrecking another vehicle.”
“I don’t know what they plan to do. But, he can appeal.”
Ryan Preece vs Ty Gibbs at Texas Motor Speedway (Video)
NASCAR explains why they didn’t penalize Kyle Busch
“No penalty there,” Forde added.
“We did the same thing, video, audio and SMT data. The SMT data is largely what played a role for us in this decision.”
The data told us that after the incident, he was turning the wheel all the way left, just to go straight. We had a feeling that he had some significant damage. It was inconclusive if that was a damaged vehicle that caused him to get into the No. 42 or if it was intentional.”
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“Do we plan to have a discussion though?”
“Brad Moran and company with Kyle and the rest of RCR leadership. This is the second time in the last four weeks where there’s been discussion post-race on whether or not he should have a penalty.”
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“Maybe lets not have this conversation as often as we are. The benefit of the doubt is running out pretty quickly. We’ll have that conversation.”
“There was no audio that came out that said, ‘We’re going to wreck the No. 42.’ That’s one and then two is the SMT data.”
After the race, a photo surfaced of John Hunter Nemechek where his face looked to be covered in blood. That photo has since been removed. However, NASCAR says they were not aware of any fight and they had security on the scene at the time.
“Elton Sawyer did talk to John Hunter and he didn’t mention there was a fight. I feel pretty confident there was no fight.”
Kyle Busch crashes John Hunter Nemechek at Texas (Video)
