Two days after the dust settled on a chaotic Wurth 400 at Texas Motor Speedway, NASCAR made the decision not to alter the race results, but to directly alter the standings.
While Richard Childress Racing's Kyle Busch was not penalized in any way for seemingly intentionally wrecking Legacy Motor Club's John Hunter Nemechek with just over one lap remaining, immediately after the two made contact on the back straightaway, RFK Racing's Ryan Preece was unable to avoid the iron fist.
In a move that was ironically talked about much less than the Busch situation in the aftermath of Sunday's race, Preece made clear on the radio that he was going to intentionally dump Joe Gibbs Racing's Ty Gibbs, and he followed through on that promise.
Gibbs was knocked out of the race, while Preece finished 14th.
Yet even if you factor in the six stage points Preece earned in stage two with his team's decision not to pit under caution, the driver of the No. 60 Ford ended up with only four points from the weekend, which is the same value as a 33rd place finish.
That is because NASCAR fined him $50,000 and docked him 25 points for causing the Gibbs incident.
He was penalized under Sections 4.3 and 4.4.A in the NASCAR Rule Book, which state NASCAR’s member conduct guidelines and specifically include the fact that “wrecking or spinning another vehicle, whether or not that vehicle is removed from competition as a result” is a potentially punishable offense.
He had been sitting 12th in the point standings, 63 points above the "Chase" playoff cut line, before the penalty. Now he is 13th, just 38 points above the line between the 16th and 17th place drivers. Joe Gibbs Racing's Christopher Bell moved ahead of him.
Updated NASCAR standings, playoff picture
Rank | Name | Points | Gap | Playoff |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota | 526 | 0 | 291 |
2 | Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | 417 | -109 | 182 |
3 | Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet | 409 | -117 | 174 |
4 | Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford | 371 | -155 | 136 |
5 | Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford | 345 | -181 | 110 |
6 | Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet | 333 | -193 | 98 |
7 | Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | 330 | -196 | 95 |
8 | Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet | 318 | -208 | 83 |
9 | Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford | 311 | -215 | 76 |
10 | William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet | 308 | -218 | 73 |
11 | Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota | 304 | -222 | 69 |
12 | Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | 291 | -235 | 56 |
13 | Ryan Preece, No. 60 RFK Racing Ford | 273 | -253 | 38 |
14 | Daniel Suarez, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet | 271 | -255 | 36 |
15 | Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford | 248 | -278 | 13 |
16 | Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | 242 | -284 | 7 |
17 | Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford | 235 | -291 | -7 |
18 | Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet | 216 | -310 | -26 |
19 | Shane van Gisbergen, No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet | 215 | -311 | -27 |
20 | A.J. Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet | 199 | -327 | -43 |
21 | Zane Smith, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford | 198 | -328 | -44 |
22 | Erik Jones, No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota | 196 | -330 | -46 |
23 | Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet | 189 | -337 | -53 |
24 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet | 187 | -339 | -55 |
25 | Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford | 186 | -340 | -56 |
26 | Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet | 182 | -344 | -60 |
27 | Kyle Busch, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet | 182 | -344 | -60 |
28 | Riley Herbst, No. 35 23XI Racing Toyota | 173 | -353 | -69 |
29 | John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota | 157 | -369 | -85 |
30 | Josh Berry, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford | 155 | -371 | -87 |
31 | Noah Gragson, No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford | 153 | -373 | -89 |
32 | Ty Dillon, No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet | 136 | -390 | -106 |
33 | Connor Zilisch, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet | 124 | -402 | -118 |
34 | Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet | 115 | -411 | -127 |
35 | Cody Ware, No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet | 92 | -434 | -150 |
36 | Cole Custer, No. 41 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet | 91 | -435 | -151 |
While a 25-point penalty may not seem like much, it could have long-lasting effects, especially under the new postseason format.
Drivers are now awarded bonus points to start the postseason based on where they finish in the regular season standings, so if this 25-point deduction makes any difference whatsoever in Preece's regular season points position, it could very well mean he either loses bonus points to begin the playoffs or potentially misses out on what would have otherwise been his first career postseason appearance altogether.
Watkins Glen International is scheduled to host this weekend's race. The Go Bowling at the Glen is set to be shown live on Fox Sports 1 from the New York road course starting at 3:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, May 10. Start a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss it!
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