The penalty issued by NASCAR to Ryan Preece was upheld on Wednesday following a hearing in front of the National Motorsports Appeals Panel.
The incident in question occurred on May 3 at Texas Motor Speedway when Ty Gibbs crashed due to contact from Preece behind him. There was an exchange between them earlier in the race and Preece vented the following message over the team radio channel.
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“What a fucking idiot that kid is,” Preece said in real time. “He’s so lucky his car is so fucking fast. … Alright, when I get to that 54, I’m done with him. Fucking idiot. It’s just, that car is so fast, it fucking pisses me off. Stupid. I can’t I’m going to vent for 15 seconds. I can’t stand when idiots like him have fast race cars that they can do stupid shit and get away with it. End of rant.”
When Preece next got to him, Gibbs was spun due to contact, which the former said was merely an example of him not cutting a rival driver ‘a break’ he would give another peer. Regardless, NASCAR issued a $50,000 fine and the deduction of 25 driver points under Sections 4.3 and 4.4.A in the NASCAR Rule Book.
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That section details ‘wrecking or spinning another vehicle, whether or not that vehicle is removed from competition as a result’ as punishable offenses.
The panel hearing arguments from both sides on Wednesday included former Truck Series team owner Tom DeLoach, former sports marketing executive Dixon Johnston and ex-driver Lake Speed, whom offered the following collective statement on upholding the penalty to Preece.
“Although not a unanimous decision, NASCAR and RFK Racing presented competing interpretations of common data. Neither side clearly proved their point but Mr. Preece’s comments showed that he chose to not cut his competitor any breaks.”
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RFK Racing has the option to appeal one last time to the Final Appeals Officer process but it doesn’t like that is happening based on a Wednesday statement.
“RFK Racing is extremely disappointed in today’s ruling by the national motorsports appeals panel. We stand by Ryan Preece and believe our argument was fair, sound and without question.
“We appreciate the forum provided by NASCAR to both provide detailed evidence and defend our stance through thoughtful data and digital evidence. Let’s get back to racing and see you in Nashville.”
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