Earlier this year at Texas, NASCAR dropped the hammer on Ryan Preece. He wrecked Ty Gibbs, and officials hit him with a $50,000 fine and a 25-point penalty. But in Chicagoland, several acts motivated by retribution occurred without any punishment. Many fans are calling out NASCAR’s inconsistency. Now, Cup Series driver Chase Briscoe is speaking up. He says the sport’s unwritten rules force drivers to lie to the public, even when the truth is obvious.

Chase Briscoe questions NASCAR’s unwritten rule on retaliation

“I don’t like the whole ‘don’t be able to say it on the radio’ thing because then you just get out and you’re lying about it and everybody knows you’re lying about it. Like if I wrecked you back, right? And I’m like, I just got in there too deep, and sorry, I hate it for him. The whole field knows that I wrecked you on purpose, and a lot of the fans know it, too.”

After NASCAR decided not to punish anyone for two major clashes at Chicagoland Speedway, Chase Briscoe made those remarks on the Rubbin’ is Racing podcast.

Shane van Gisbergen and Austin Hill were engaged in the first incident.

Van Gisbergen’s No. 97 Chevrolet collided with Hill’s No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet as it entered the turn on Lap 48. Hill’s race came to an almost immediate conclusion as the incident spun him against the outer wall. Richard Childress accused SVG of intentional retaliation as Hill showed his anger by sideswiping van Gisbergen under caution before driving to the garage.

It wasn’t an isolated instance. For weeks, the two had been developing a rivalry. At Pocono, Hill made an aggressive three-wide move beneath Josh Berry and van Gisbergen as they entered Turn 3. This was the first flashpoint. Van Gisbergen was eliminated from the race in the incident as the three drivers rapidly ran out of space.

The conflict escalated in San Diego a week later. For the second week in a row, van Gisbergen was caught in a multi-car pileup after Hill locked his brakes as he entered Turn 1 and went straight into Connor Zilisch during a Stage 2 restart. SVG saw two good races vanish due to Hill’s errors.

Then there’s Carson Hocevar and Zane Smith.

Hocevar and Smith were competing near 17th place on Lap 32 of the Chicagoland race when they collided, sending both cars into the wall. In an attempt to get revenge, Smith purposefully spun Hocevar, ending the day for both drivers. And, like van Gisbergen and Hill, their rivalry goes back to the 2025 Iowa race. Then, Hocevar had clipped Smith’s car and forced a DNF.

Despite the obvious history behind both incidents, NASCAR announced that no fines or suspensions would be issued. That’s where Chase Briscoe sees an inconsistency. Earlier this season at Texas, Ryan Preece openly vented over the radio after becoming frustrated with Ty Gibbs.

“Alright, when I get to that 54 I’m done with him. F—— idiot… I can’t stand when idiots like him have fast race cars where they can do stupid sh– and get away with it.”

Preece turned Gibbs into the outside wall twenty-six laps later. NASCAR used that radio message as proof of intent, fining Preece $50,000 and docking him 25 points. Tommy Baldwin had shared his opinion on the penalty, stating NASCAR wanted to set a precedent on drivers using their radios before wrecking others.

“It’s the button. I think they’re trying to set an example of stop with the button,” he shared on the Door Bumper Clear podcast.

Chase Briscoe is not saying that there should be no retribution. Instead, he believes NASCAR drivers should police one another. But what frustrates him is the expectation that drivers must deny the obvious afterward. Everyone in the garage knows when intentional retaliation happens. Fans are also aware of it. Forcing drivers to come up with different justifications only adds a needless degree of hypocrisy.

As Chase Briscoe put it, everybody already knows the truth. The only people pretending otherwise are the ones standing in front of the microphones.