Contact Us
Featured  ·  NASCAR  ·  NASCAR Cup Series

Kyle Busch Calls For Automatic Suspension For A Right Rear Hook No Matter What After Austin Cindric Only Gets A Fine And Points Penalty

March 8, 2025  ·
  John Trent

Kyle Busch doubled down on his comments about Austin Cindric deserving a suspension and called for automatic suspensions if you right rear hook a fellow competitor no matter what.

NASCAR penalized Austin Cindric after he right rear hooked Ty Dillon at the beginning of the Cup Series race at Circuit of the America. He was docked 50 driver points and fined $50,000, but he did not receive a suspension.

During an interview with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Busch reacted to the penalty saying, “I think intent is intent. I do not agree with the call there. I don’t care where it is. It doesn’t matter if it’s Daytona, Talladega, Martinsville, wherever. There’s intent. That’s not his first offense either. So he got off the hook on that one.”

Larry McReynolds then asked, “So Kyle, do you think there is a distinct line in the sand that if you hook somebody you are going to be out, and now that line is a little unclear?” Busch replied, “Ain’t that what we’ve all talked about forever? I’ve been guilty of it before and I’ve been sat of it before. So, you know maybe it’s all in who your last name is.”

Now, speaking with members of the media ahead of the Cup series race at Phoenix, Busch doubled down saying, “I did it once, maybe twice. Got off it the first time, not the second time. Sat out a whole weekend, two more races, the second time. That’s not his first offense. I don’t know if it’s second offense. Like I said, some guys get off on based off who their last name is.”

“Yeah, Bubba got it at Vegas. I’ve had it before. I think there’s a couple other guys that’ve had it,” he said when asked if it should be an automatic suspension. “You should know that going in, right. You’re going to pull that move, you’re going to know that going in.”

When asked on whether NASCAR should look at each individual separately, he balked, “I would not want to be in that business if I was NASCAR. Calling balls and strikes is not who I want to be if I’m a NASCAR official. Intent is intent.”

Finally, he declared, “Put it in the rulebook: A right hook will result in one-race suspension. Period.”

NASCAR’s Managing Director of Racing Communications Mike Forde explained why NASCAR chose not to suspend him during the most recent episode of Hauler Talk, “The reason we landed on points and fine is that we take every situation, every violation as its own unique incident. … In this case we did feel that it was significantly different than the previous two. And the reasons are, you look at it, it is at a road course, lower speeds, tight confines to begin with, and the result didn’t even draw a caution flag. … Those were really the reasons we chose to err on the side of letting him race this weekend at Phoenix, going with a fine and a significant driver points penalty.”

He later added, “If we suspended him the punishment wouldn’t have fit the crime, it was probably going to be too severe of a punishment.”

What do you make of Busch’s comments?

NEXT: NASCAR Appeals Panel Overturns Penalty To Chase Briscoe And Joe Gibbs Racing

Author: John Trent