Should Ron Hornaday Be Suspended?

Consistency or lack thereof in NASCAR is always debated among the media and race fans alike in what seems to be a never ending issue. Yesterday, NASCAR made a controversial decision to leave Brad Keselowski alone and not fine him for his incensed remarks following  the NRA 500. The next decision NASCAR makes could also cause many fans and members of the media to criticize them and that is what to do with Ron Hornaday. At Rockingham, the 4x CWTS champion turned rookie Darrell Wallace Jr. into the wall under caution. He was forced to go to the end of the longest line for the restart and was called to the hauler following the event.

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Ron vehemently denied that he intentionally wrecked Wallace but the video shows exactly what his intent was. The incident was eerily similar to a truck race at Texas back in 2011 when Kyle Busch purposely wrecked Ron Hornaday into the wall under caution. NASCAR parked Busch for the rest of that race and for the remainder of the weekend. Fans are calling for the administration to suspend the champ for 1 week forcing him to miss the race at Kansas Speedway this weekend.

Ron’s reason for going after Darrell was that he didn’t like the way he raced him late in the event. Wallace’s owner just so happens to be Kyle Busch who is responsible for ending any chance Hornaday had at a 5th title back in 2011 but I think that’s just a coincidence and nothing more. The big question is how should NASCAR officials deal with Hornaday and should they take further action against him? Some say no, others would like points and money taken away while most are calling for a suspension. I don’t think NASCAR will suspend him nor do I want them to.

Parking drivers is the biggest penalty NASCAR can issue and I don’t think Ron has warranted such a punishment. People want to make the connection to Kyle Busch at Texas but that was different than this in three major ways. First of all, it may have been under caution like this but they were going much faster at Texas. Secondly, this was two truck competitors getting into it while the one in 2011 was a Cup driver wrecking a CWTS championship contender late in the season ending his title hopes. Thirdly, Kyle Busch already had multiple offences and officials had enough. In the year leading up to the wreck, Kyle had flipped off NASCAR officials, wrecked a driver-less #29 car on pit road at Darlington, gotten into a fist fight with Richard Childress and that’s not everything.

NASCAR parks racers as a final option to teach repeat offenders a lesson but this is Ron Hornaday we are talking about here. He has been around for a long time and has won multiple championships. A fine and possibly a point deduction is all they should do to him. Did they park Jeff Gordon after his high speed crash with title contender Clint Bowyer that took out two other innocent drivers and caused a brawl? No, they didn’t because it was Jeff Gordon. He is a 4x champion who has proven that he can keep a calm head in most situations. That’s how they should treat Hornaday as well. In the end, there are safety trucks driving around and track workers out so going at it with another driver under yellow flag conditions is dangerous and must be dealt with. It would be imprudent of NASCAR to look at this incident, say it is just like the Texas one and park him. No two incidents are ever the same.