NASCAR has been accused of setting a “dangerous” precedent with its latest penalty decision.
The NASCAR Cup Series announced their weekly penalties on Tuesday after Sunday’s heated race at Texas. One driver was penalized, fined and docked some points. But it was a controversial ruling.
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Ryan Preece was docked 25 points and fined $50,000 for his incident with Ty Gibbs. Preece was furious with Gibbs during a caution in the race. He sounded off during the middle of the caution.
“What a [expletive] idiot that kid is. He is so lucky his car is so [expletive] fast. … All right, when I get to that 54, I’m done with him. [Expletive] idiot,” Preece was heard saying.
Preece ended up wrecking Gibbs.
While NASCAR fans were OK with Preece’s punishment, many felt that Kyle Busch should be penalized, too. Busch appeared to take John Hunter Nemechek out of the race. He hit him hard during a turn and sent him into a wall.
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Busch, though, was not penalized.
“We do look at all available resources, whether that’s the video, in-car audio, SMT data,” NASCAR’s Mike Forde said on the “Hauler Talk” podcast. “And really what this came down to is … (Preece) said what he said, and then he did what he said.”
“And so in our view,” according to Forde, “It was intentionally wrecking another vehicle.”
Did NASCAR set a dangerous precedent? (Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)James Gilbert/Getty Images
NASCAR is being accused of sending a ‘dangerous’ precedent
Many in the NASCAR world believe that Busch should have been penalized, too. It seemed like he caused a crash, perhaps intentionally, as well.
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“Naturally, that’s a tricky message to send. It’s a potentially dangerous one,” Outkick wrote.
“The video of Busch’s crash went viral because it looked so bad. Clint Bowyer and Kevin Harvick said as much on the broadcast. Fans went nuts on social media. If anyone was going to get docked points and be forced to send NASCAR a big, fat check this week, it was going to be Kyle Busch, right?”
If NASCAR is going to dock Preece a lot of points, it should probably do the same to Busch, too.
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“The message this sends is: If you want to wreck someone, just don’t say anything, and nothing will happen to you,” one wrote.
“I’m still in awe of NASCAR,” one shared.
NASCAR might need to figure this out.
This story was originally published by The Spun on May 6, 2026, where it first appeared in the NASCAR section. Add The Spun as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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