NASCAR has been doing pretty much everything right this season. Especially with the late caution calls, which have allowed fans to enjoy uninterrupted racing. They did the same last weekend at Texas, when they ignored John Hunter Nemechek’s crash and allowed the leaders to run the final lap. However, their midweek penalty report has put a dent in all the good work they’ve been doing so far.

The tension between Ryan Preece and Ty Gibbs began to build late in Stage 1 when Gibbs charged under Preece entering Turn 1. Frustrated by the move, Preece told his team over the radio that he intended to hand it back to Gibbs. “All right, when I get to that 54, I’m done with him. Fu***** idiot.” This situation escalated as Gibbs slammed into the Turn 3 wall following contact from Preece’s No. 60 Ford. And while Preece later claimed over the radio that no contact had occurred, replay footage indicated otherwise. Shane van Gisbergen, whose car was directly behind the incident, also suggested the same. And this in turn forced NASCAR’s hand to penalize the driver.

NASCAR cited that Preece has been booked under Sections 4.3 and 4.4. A in the NASCAR Rule Book. After analyzing the entire situation, NASCAR disrupted the silence that followed the race, imposing a massive $50,000 fine on Preece and further docking him 25 driver points. This was seen as a retaliatory act after Preece lashed out against the JGR driver on the team radio.

“We try to look at prior instances,” NASCAR’s Mike Forde said. “The deliberation on how we wanted to handle this one was the Denny Hamlin penalty. When he wrecks Ross Chastain at Phoenix a few years ago, and then the next day, talked about it on his podcast, later got the exact same penalty. So, he [Preece] said what he said, and then he did what he said. And so, in our view, it was intentionally wrecking another vehicle. That’s where we landed.” NASCAR has been pretty consistent with its rulings when it comes to right hooking or intentional wrecks, but something changed last week.

Kyle Busch tried to make a hole in front of the No. 42 car on the final lap. He was met with resistance as Nemechek didn’t give in, and both drivers, after making contact, almost wrecked. But Rowdy wasn’t done. Despite losing multiple positions, he swerved right into the No. 42 car, igniting the late crash that NASCAR ignored because they wanted to keep the race green. Just after this incident, fans were demanding that NASCAR penalize Busch for losing his temper, but they decided otherwise.

Take the 2024 Richmond spring race: Austin Dillon’s playoff qualification was declared void after he wrecked Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin to secure a win. Last year at COTA, Austin Cindric was docked 50 points along with a $50,000 fine for hooking Ty Dillon. So, reprimanding Preece made sense, but why was Kyle Busch let off the hook? Well, NASCAR had a clarification for that as well.

Apparently, NASCAR did not find enough evidence, especially considering that Busch didn’t claim that the wreck was intentional. “The data told us that after the incident, he [Busch] was turning the wheel all the way left, just to go straight. So, we had a feeling that he had some pretty significant damage, and it was inconclusive on if that was a damaged vehicle that caused him to get into the 42, or if it was intentional, you know, the SMT data, there was zero things, in our opinion, that said, he did this intentionally, and rose to the level of penalty,” Forde justified.

However, this isn’t the first time that Kyle Busch has found himself in the middle of these allegations. Back at Bristol, he had a similar exchange with Riley Herbst when he sent him spinning around. Again, he wasn’t penalized at the time. But the frequency of these events has forced the authorities to have a discussion with the #8 team and the rest of the Richard Childress Racing crew.

Truck Series team faces a major blow as NASCAR’s penalties continue

Layne Riggs has been quite impressive in the Truck Series. He has been racing full-time for Front Row Motorsports for the past three seasons and has produced six race wins so far. He had a decent run at the Texas Motor Speedway, finishing in sixth place; however, trouble just started for him as NASCAR imposed the penalties.

As per Sections 8.8.10.4a: Ties and Wheels (under safety), the #34 team’s crew chief, Dylan Cappello, was fined $2,500 and suspended from the upcoming Truck race at Watkins Glen International at the end of this week. This came after a post-race inspection, when the officials came across lug nuts in the truck that were not properly installed. This could have been a major safety concern; however, Riggs managed to finish the race in a competitive spot. He will be racing at The Glen, too, but with a different crew chief.

Time and again, NASCAR has showcased that it can sometimes be too harsh with the penalties. However, it can also be confusing, as was the case with Dale Earnhardt Jr., because he did not agree with the authorities penalizing Preece for the incident.

Ryan Preece, however, has the chance to appeal the penalty in the coming days, which could perhaps put him in a better position. Meanwhile, it seems to be going easy for Kyle Busch, whose only loss in the past weekend was a competitive finish.