Kevin Harvick and others around NASCAR believe Austin Cindric should have been suspended by the governing body after last week’s COTA race.
During the prerace show on FS1 ahead of Sunday’s NASCAR Phoenix race, Harvick shared criticism of NASCAR for not levying a harsher penalty against Cindric after he hit Ty Dillon in the right rear quarter panel on the frontstretch at Circuit of the Americas last week.
Cindric was docked 50 driver points and was fined $50,000 for the move.
“That’s an awful call,” Harvick said. “As a driver, the way things have gone in this particular (NextGen) car, what the injuries are with the head, this is something unanimously decided on from the drivers’ side of it that needs to be black and white. … Whether you’re going 35 miles an hour or 135 miles an hour, he should have been suspended.”
Harvick continued in saying that he wants to see consistency in the rule and preventing drivers intentionally hitting the quarter panel, otherwise known as “hooking” other drivers.
“Now you’re going to suspend the next guy, then it’ll be, ‘You didn’t suspend the last guy,'” Harvick said. “This is along the lines of getting the consistency of what we’re doing. This is a really simple call and I feel like they missed it bad here.”
Bubba Wallace was hit with a one-race suspension after hitting Kyle Larson in the right rear quarter panel during a Las Vegas race in 2022. Chase Elliott was suspended for hooking Denny Hamlin in the 2023 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
As a driver, Harvick said, he just simply does not like the move.
“It’s a cheap shot,” Harvick said. “Whether it was in the left rear or the right rear going down the straightaway, it’s obvious to see exactly what he did. He got away with one here.”
Harvick’s co-analyst on FS1, Jamie McMurray, agreed with Harvick and added what NASCAR’s process was on the ruling.
“They said it was on a road course, at lower speeds and didn’t draw a caution,” McMurray said. “Intent is intent, (Cindric) chased (Dillon) down the racetrack to get to him. … It has to be black and white; if you hook somebody, you’re getting suspended for a race.
Cindric declined FOX Sports’ interview request, host Chris Myers said.
Kyle Busch said on a social media video from FOX Sports motorsports reporter Bob Pockrass that NASCAR needs to get more consistent on its penalty ruilings, adding that, “Some guys get off based on what their last name is,” Busch said.
“Rules change every week,” Busch said. “You should know that going in, if you want to pull that move you should know going in.”
Busch added that eliminating a gray area for penalties is a philosophy NASCAR should explore and making penalties more concrete and objective, rather than making it a judgement call.
“I would not want to be in that business if I was NASCAR,” Busch said. “Calling balls and strikes is not who I want to be if I’m NASCAR. Put it in the rulebook, a right hook will result in a one-race suspension.”
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Dillon said to Pockrass on social media that he was expecting Cindric to receive a one-race suspension but was just happy the sport did something to reprimand the driver of the No. 2 Team Penske Ford.
Dillon continued saying that he has seen videos in safety meetings where a car sitting still gets hit going 75 or 100 miles per hour and that damage that it can do, “Luckily no one was coming and couldn’t see me and hit me when I’m dead stopped parallel to the frontstretch,” Dillon said.
“We’ve got to do a better job of making those calls black and white and setting a bit of a better standard,” Dillon said. “I know it’s a tough call and they’ve got to make decisions. To me, they did a good enough job making something out of it but just got to make sure he knows that he can’t do that again, especially to me.”
Follow sports writer Austin Chastain on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @ChastainAJ or reach him via email at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Kevin Harvick blasts NASCAR for no Austin Cindric suspension after COTA
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