Penalties are all that the NASCAR community is concerned with after the Cup Series race at Richmond. Despite many calling out the officials for turning a blind eye to Denny Hamlin’s jump-start, the sport also came under fire from fans over the $5000 penalty it handed to Xfinity Series veteran Joey Gase for throwing his rear bumper cover onto another car on the track. In contrast to one of the sport’s most established drivers getting away scot-free, the owner and driver of Joey Gase Motorsports was left with a heavy bill to pay.

Whilst fans had been screaming for tighter rule enforcement, it seems like the $5,000 fine has backfired. Ironically, NASCAR can’t seem to please fans either way they swing. With that said, what may have had a major impact on the fan disapproval is how we’re witnessing the sport now seeming to use the Gase incident as a marketing tool.

NASCAR’s Joey Gase and MLB edit goes wrong

Joey Gase’s weekend at Richmond unfolded for the worst on lap 173 of the Xfinity race. Dawson Cram’s #4 Chevrolet lined up on Gase’s inside, but made contact that sent the #34 barreling into the wall. This damaged the Joey Gase Motorsports car extensively, making the team owner and driver a very unhappy man. And he didn’t hesitate to show it right then.

Waiting for the right moment, Gase pulled off the damaged rear bumper cover. Soon enough, the #4 drove by him and the #34 driver threw the cover onto the windshield of Cram’s Chevy. Making contact with the hood and the windshield, the piece of debris did significant damage before falling onto the track. While Gase seemed to have gotten away with his shenanigans till Monday, that would all soon change. On Tuesday, NASCAR revealed that they would penalize Gase $5,000 for his behavior on track according to Sections 8.8.8K. The section stated, as quoted by Motorsports.com, read, “A safety violation may be imposed for any action or omission by a competitor or vehicle that creates an unsafe environment or poses a threat to the safety of the Competitors, as determined by NASCAR.”

Whilst the officials had remained silent earlier, many believed the late penalty was influenced by the Denny Hamlin debacle on Sunday. Still, fans could see why NASCAR had opted to penalize Gase. After all, his behavior would not go unchecked in any racing series anywhere in the world. But what rubbed fans the wrong way was when the NASCAR account on X posted an ‘edit’ involving MLB and Gase’s incident to boost engagement.

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Naturally, fans on X were fuming at NASCAR for gaining social media engagement at the expense of Joey Gase.

The community calls out NASCAR’s double standards whilst defending Joey Gase

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To put things into perspective, it’s worth accounting for how big a $5,000 truly is for a team like Joey Gase Motorsports. On top of that, the team also suffered major damage that they will need to foot the bill for. Naturally, it seemed like NASCAR was rubbing salt on the team’s wounds when they posted the mockup edit. Wasting no time, fans jumped to defend the #34 driver; “You fined the dude and then used him to drive clicks and views. Shameless,” whilst others agreed, “Yep. Pretty f**ked up.”

While fans didn’t deny that Gase’s actions deserved a penalty owing to safety reasons, they couldn’t fathom NASCAR’s use of the incident for marketing. Users continued to rant as they shared memes; “NASCAR: fines Joey Gace $5000 for this. Also NASCAR: uses it as a promo.” Others also pointed to a trend in such incidents; “I mean look at the promotion with the Hail Melon move after they banned it 😂 typical NASCAR”

Still, some tried to be the voice of reason. Since the governing body for enforcing rules and the social media team are miles apart in operations, many gave the sport the benefit of the doubt. One fan tweeted, “When you realize competition and social media are two different entities 😯”, whilst others added to that notion, writing, “that’s fine because we don’t need drivers running into traffic.”

Another fan commented, “They can’t set a precedent saying we need drivers going on a hot track and throwing stuff every week. It’s not a bad fine considering Bobby, Donnie, and Cale were all fined more for 1979,”

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At the end of the day, it’s safe to say NASCAR doesn’t seem to be in the best pages of the community right now. What did you think of NASCAR’s post?