After NASCAR’s ruling on Austin Cindric’s right-rear hook of Ty Dillon, the racing community is debating whether the decision was the right one. The key question now is whether drivers understand where the line is on such incidents.
“I think so, yeah,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. said on ‘The Dale Jr. Download.’ “Drivers will complain, but they know right-hooking someone at 180 mph is always bad. They just want NASCAR to say, ‘No right hooks, period.’ But NASCAR isn’t doing that.”
The incident happened just four laps into the race. After Dillon pushed Cindric off the track coming out of a turn, Cindric waited for his chance on the straightaway, then appeared to turn left into Dillon’s rear bumper, sending him spinning into the wall.
Immediately, speculation arose about whether NASCAR would issue a severe penalty, possibly suspending Cindric, which would have cost him crucial playoff points. Instead, NASCAR fined him $50,000 and docked 50 driver points.
“NASCAR’s basically saying, ‘We’ll let y’all race and make bad decisions. Cindric made a bad decision, and we penalized him 50 damn points,’” Earnhardt said.
Whether this punishment is enough to deter similar actions in the future remains uncertain.
“That’s a race and a half,” Earnhardt added. “If he dominates a race, he gets 50 points.”
Only time will tell if this penalty sets a firm precedent, but it’s likely another driver will push the limits in future races.
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