NASCAR fans joke ‘Kyle Larson penalty announcement Tuesday’

Fans took a subtle dig at NASCAR after it was announced that Kyle Larson’s car would be taken to the R&D Center after Sunday’s race at Talladega Superspeedway.

The No. 5 Chevrolet of Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson was involved in a violent accident at the end of Sunday afternoon’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway.

Larson’s involvement in the crash was part of a chain reaction when Trackhouse Racing Team’s Ross Chastain tried to make it three-wide with Stewart-Haas Racing’s Aric Almirola and Legacy Motor Club’s Noah Gragson behind race leader Ryan Blaney of Team Penske in overtime.

Larson lost control of his car and spun out low, but when he came back up the track, he took a direct hit from the No. 41 Ford of Stewart-Haas Racing’s Ryan Preece.

It was about the closest thing to a head-on collision you can get in a NASCAR Cup Series race, and the impact was no joke.

The impact left the right side of Larson’s car, including the roll cage and a portion of the cockpit, mangled, and Larson was fortunate to not have had been seriously injured by anything in the car as a result of the crash.

In addition to the No. 2 Ford of Team Penske’s Austin Cindric and the No. 45 Toyota of 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick, it was revealed after the race that Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet would also be taken to the R&D Center this week for further investigation following the crash.

Given the fact that NASCAR has issued six points penalties to Hendrick Motorsports in the last month and a half, including one to Larson (which was eventually rescinded upon appeal), some fans joked that Larson’s car being taken to the R&D Center would lead to NASCAR finding a way to issue yet another penalty to Rick Hendrick’s team.

It stands to reason that this would pop into the heads of a few fans, given NASCAR’s recent crackdown — and the fact that Hendrick Motorsports have been on the receiving end of a lot of it, with two more points penalties issued due to “greenhouse violations” after their appeal was successful in overturning the points portion of their four hood louvers penalties.

But considering the fact that Larson has been penalized a net total of zero points this year, it’s strange to think that Larson would be a target, especially since it’s relatively obvious that NASCAR isn’t going to be penalizing him for whatever they find as far as the crash damage is concerned.

This is strictly related to the fact that Larson could have been seriously injured or worse, and hopefully the issues that need to be addressed and fixed are addressed and fixed.

In fact, NASCAR has also asked for and received Preece’s No. 41 Ford to assist them in analyzing the damage to Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet.