NASCAR: Warnings for clear violations will not cut it moving forward

NASCAR giving warnings for clear violations on the race track is not going to cut it moving forward, as we saw this past Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Coming to a restart in this past Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Aric Almirola led the field alongside Team Penske’s Joey Logano in second place.

Almirola lined up his #10 Ford on the outside lane with Logano to his inside in his #22 Ford, and he brake-checked the field, causing several cars to come into contact with one another, en route to getting well out in front of everybody else going into turn one.

He was given a warning for his restart.

Here is a video of this controversial restart, and you can hear what NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer Steve O’Donnell had to say about it.

Here is what Logano said about this restart, according to RACER.

"“He brake-checked the field. You’re not supposed to do that. I don’t know how they regulate it – they gave him a warning which I don’t really know what that means. Warning to what, not do that again? He wasn’t in the lead again, so he never had the opportunity to do it, so he got away with it. I don’t know.“You can’t slow down in the box before you go. That’s why I got ahead of him. I was going the same speed, and he lifted, which put me in the spot that if I go it looks like I jumped the restart. So, I can’t take that risk or they’d (NASCAR) call that. I don’t know. The rules on restarts have started to loosen up quite a bit again.”"

Logano was involved in a controversial restart of his own last month in the race at Michigan International Speedway that he benefited from, but that doesn’t change the fact that he’s right about this situation.

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We’re talking about a sanctioning body that has stripped several top results, including a win, from multiple drivers throughout the Xfinity Series and Truck Series this season and would not hesitate do the same in the Cup Series given the current rules.

But commit a clear-cut violations during a race, and it’s balls and strikes — and whatever the heck a warning is supposed to be.

Logano also made a good point about the usefulness of this warning. Almirola wasn’t in the lead again, and he only got to the lead to begin with because of his pit strategy. The warning he was issued was completely useless and solved absolutely nothing, and anybody watching the race at the time could’ve told you that that was exactly how it was going to end up. Almirola finished the race in 11th place.

What’s especially good about the above video is the fact that it also details the somewhat unrelated situation of Joe Gibbs Racing’s Erik Jones, who many believed committed a pit lane commitment violation.

However, the rule book states that because Jones did not not have all four tires of his #20 Toyota below the orange line, he did not commit a violation and therefore should not have been penalized, and he wasn’t. He went on to finish the race in a season-high third place.

Good call.

How does that relate to Almirola’s restart? It proves that NASCAR has a rule book, and they used it properly.

So why the warning for Almirola on the clear-cut illegal restart?

This is not going to cut it moving forward, especially when fans across not only NASCAR but all of motorsports have been screaming for one thing, consistency, as it pertains to penalties.

Just two weekends ago at Kentucky Speedway, Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron was issued a drive-through penalty for a restart violation. He was restarting in second place on the inside lane with Stewart-Haas Racing’s Clint Bowyer to his outside.

What took place here? Bowyer did not accelerate right away, and he had a right not to, and Almirola hit Byron on the inside at the end of the restart zone, making it look like Byron jumped the restart. This also made it look like Bowyer brake-checked the field, but because he didn’t, Byron was penalized.

Fast-forward one week later. Almirola actually does brake-check the field, and he gets a warning. It is also worth noting that when Almirola hit Byron at Kentucky Speedway, the whole field wasn’t stacked up being the two drivers like they were when Almirola brake-checked the field at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Yet Byron was penalized two weekends ago while Almirola was not this past weekend.

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NASCAR issuing warnings to drivers when they clearly commit on-track violations is not going to cut it moving forward. The rule book is in place for a reason, and that reason is not limited to particular controversial situations or specific drivers.

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