Steven Taranto
@STaranto92
·
19h
An explanation of why Ryan Preece was penalized for wrecking Ty Gibbs (and Kyle Busch was not for his incident with John Hunter Nemechek) via Hauler Talk:
- In Preece's case, the biggest determining factor was audio evidence of Preece saying "when I get to that 54, I'm done with him" combined with video, audio, and SMT data. As NASCAR's Mike Forde put it, "He said what he said, and then he did what he said."
- One incident that was discussed when deliberating over this incident was from Phoenix in 2023, when Denny Hamlin put Ross Chastain in the wall and then admitted on his podcast that he did so on purpose.
- Preece can appeal the penalty, and there's no need for an expedited hearing given there is no suspension involved.MEANWHILE,
- SMT data played a large factor in the decision on Kyle Busch's run-in with John Hunter Nemechek. According to the data, Busch was "turning the wheel all the way left just to go straight", meaning there was at least a plausible chance that Busch hit the 42 because his car was damaged and wouldn't steer
- Unlike in Preece's case, there was also no audio evidence to suggest that Busch hit Nemechek on purpose
- While there's no penalty for Busch, NASCAR leadership WILL discuss the matter with Busch and RCR leadership, as this is the second time in four races that Busch has taken out a competitor late in the race and "the benefit of the doubt is running out pretty quickly"
