Kyle Busch made it clear he does not agree with NASCAR’s penalty against Austin Cindric after he hooked Ty Dillon in the right rear during the Cup Series race at Circuit of the Americas.
NASCAR penalized Austin Cindric 50 driver points and fined him $50,000, but did not suspend him after he hooked Dillon at the beginning of the race.
Austin Cindric sends Ty Dillon into a spin. We stay green.@AlwaysRaceDay pic.twitter.com/bj51S4moP4
— Mr Matthew CFB (@MrMatthew_CFB) March 2, 2025
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.”
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.”
What do you make of Busch’s reaction to the penalty?
NEXT: NASCAR Appeals Panel Overturns Penalty To Chase Briscoe And Joe Gibbs Racing