NASCAR officials had a “pretty healthy discussion” and a “thorough” review before declining to penalize Christian Eckes for wrecking Corey Heim at Bristol Motor Speedway.
During the latest episode of the “Hauler Talk” podcast, NASCAR vice president of race communications Mike Forde said there will be a follow-up conversation with Eckes, who denied the crash was intentional, before the next NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race.
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Truck series managing director Seth Kramlich assembled a PowerPoint-style slide presentation with multiple angles of the incident from the FS1 broadcast and NASCAR’s own cameras.
RELATED: Craftsman Truck Series standings | Craftsman Truck Series schedule
“We had a camera in Turn 1 that was looking at the trucks that was, ‘Oh, that looked a little worse than the broadcast and the above angle,”” Forde said. “From above and back, it didn’t look that bad. The Turn 1 (camera), it looked like he missed it way worse than the above or behind view. I’m not saying that it looked like he did it intentionally, it just looked like he got more of (Heim’s) truck than I realized at first glance.
“Seth did a really good job of laying it all out. As we have in the past, any time you’re talking about anything that remotely smells of a right-rear hook, we take that pretty seriously. So Seth did take it seriously. After that review, we decided not to penalize.”
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NASCAR agreed with Heim’s assessment, who believed Eckes misjudged the timing of the move. Forde said Kramlich also talked with Heim and Eckes about the wreck before making his presentation in NASCAR’s weekly competition briefing on Tuesday.
The crash cost Heim the chance at a Bristol victory that would have paid a $500,000 total bonus in the Triple Truck Challenge. During the episode, NASCAR senior director of racing communications Amanda Ellis explained the eligibility rules for the Triple Truck Challenge.
Forde also addressed why there was no yellow flag in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race after Chase Elliott spun his No. 9 Chevrolet coming to the white flag.
“When that happens, we kind of look for two different things,” Forde said. “One is how close to the start-finish line are they? And then how into the racing surface and racing groove are they?
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“(Elliott) stayed on the apron, and Tim Bermann, the race director, chose to hold (the yellow). He wanted to get a green-flag finish. As long as we can do it safely, we’ll do our best to do that for the fans. And luckily, Chase never came up to the racing surface, and then we were able to have that fantastic finish between (Ryan) Blaney and Ty Gibbs and see Gibbs get his first win under green.”
Other topics covered by Forde and Ellis during the 49th episode of “Hauler Talk,” which explores competition issues in NASCAR:
—The official reveal of the new stage lengths for the April 26 race at Talladega Superspeedway.
—The Bristol tiff between Riley Herbst and Kyle Busch.
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—The rash of pre-race inspection failures at Bristol and why one team received a different penalty for failing twice.
—The record number of Cup drivers in the Truck Series race at Bristol.
—The car fire involving driver Mason Maggio in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Bristol.
—The rules of the Triple Truck Challenge.
Nate Ryan has written about NASCAR since 1996 while working at the San Bernardino Sun, Richmond Times-Dispatch, USA Today and for the past 10 years at NBC Sports Digital. He is a contributor to the “Hauler Talk” show on the NASCAR Podcast Network. He has also covered various other motorsports, including the IndyCar and IMSA series.
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