There were two incidents involving William Byron and Ty Gibbs in the NASCAR Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway that NASCAR needs to evaluate and hand out penalties before the races at Talladega Superspeedway.
Let’s dive into why NASCAR needs to penalize both drivers for their incidents.
William Byron’s case for a penalty, NASCAR allegedly misses incident
Byron came home with a seventh-place finish and a 17-point cushion to the cut-line following the NASCAR Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway; however, this could change after what happened on the race track.
The driver of the No. 24 scraped the wall after some hard racing with Denny Hamlin. Under caution, Byron purposely drove up to the back of Hamlin and spun him into the infield grass.
The accident officially ended Hamlin’s competitive day as NASCAR would not let him retain his position and he came home with a very disappointing 10th-place finish due to the difficulty of passing.
However, it might be more surprising to see what NASCAR’s Senior Vice President Scott Miller said about the incident.
Miller acknowledged how NASCAR missed the incident involving Byron and Hamlin, which would have likely been dealt with on the race track if they saw it. Miller said they missed it due to viewing the previous caution with Martin Truex Jr.
The idea of Byron being penalized is still on the table and it should absolutely take place. If not, a really bad precedent is being set in place. NASCAR needs to step in and correct this mistake.
It’s not fair for Byron to simply get away with it because NASCAR did not see what happened on the race track. How is that fair if Hamlin were to dump Byron under caution at Talladega and he receives a penalty because they saw it?
This should not be a hard decision. NASCAR can’t give Hamlin points that he lost so they need to take points away from Byron. If not, who is stopping another driver from spinning out a Championship 4 competitor under caution at Phoenix Raceway with no penalty because of hard racing?
No action would be a massive mistake. It is great that NASCAR owned up to missing the incident, but that doesn’t mean Byron should and will get away with his actions on Sunday night.
A good penalty would be about 10 points. It should not be a money fine because that does nothing. There needs to be a points deduction or the inconsistencies will start to rear their ugly head in the future.
Ty Gibbs’ case for a strong penalty from NASCAR
Ty Gibbs did not contribute much to the competitive on-track action after coming home with a 20th-place finish; however, his actions on pit road are the topic of conversation after what could have been a very ugly accident.
Ty Dillon came out of his pit box and made contact with Gibbs. Then, Gibbs turned dead left on pit road and slammed Dillon. The No. 42 car almost slid into multiple officials and pit crew members as they working on a vehicle.
It was a very ugly and disgusting incident that easily could have been avoided. Gibbs put the lives of multiple people at risk as the threat of serious injuries was present. While it was on pit road, that is still fast enough to cause injuries or even worse if things go wrong.
NASCAR simply cannot let this slide. If they are setting the precedent that what Gibbs did on pit road is not worthy of a penalty, it begins the conversation on whether the safety of officials and pit crew members is as important as the drivers.
This is a massive safety issue and it is something that will be reviewed. NASCAR’s Vice President of Officiating and Technical Inspection Elton Sawyer said that Gibbs hitting Dillon pit road will be reviewed and could result in a penalty.
If it is true that the No. 1 focus is to make sure there is no serious injury in NASCAR, this needs to be a hefty penalty. The idea of suspending Gibbs for a single Cup Series event should not be off the table. It might sound crazy, but this is bigger than racing.
Sure, NASCAR might slap the team with a points penalty and significant fine, but Gibbs’ actions on pit road easily could have brought NASCAR to the scenario where its No. 1 goal of keeping people safe was violated on pit road of all places.
The incident should have been handled during the event and Gibbs should have been parked. However, nothing was done about it and that opens the door for a penalty that NASCAR thinks is necessary. The sport should be handing out penalties like candy for this very reason.
It is very clear what needs to happen. Byron and Gibbs need to be penalized for their actions on Sunday night or the integrity of the sport will need to be questioned with every questionable call moving forward.
There should be confidence that NASCAR will do the right thing at the end of the day.