NASCAR penalized Ryan Preece for an incident with Ty Gibbs in Sunday's Wurth 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.
CONCORD, N.C. — NASCAR penalized Ryan Preece for an incident with Ty Gibbs in Sunday's Wurth 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.
Preece will lose 25 points and $50,000 for the incident. In a penalty report issued Tuesday, NASCAR alleged the driver of RFK Racing's No. 60 Ford violated sections 4.3 and 4.4A of the Cup Series rulebook:
The incident in question happened on lap 102 when Gibbs spun in turn three and hit the outside wall with Preece behind him. The incident ended Gibbs' day in 36th after scoring seven stage points in the first stage.
Over the radio, Preece said he "never touched him" and replays of the incident appeared inconclusive as to if he did touch him.
However, radio communication from the end of the first stage, when Gibbs and Preece had a run-in, proved to be more of a smoking gun.
"What a f---ing idiot that kid is! He is SO lucky his car is so f---ing fast!" Preece said, adding during another caution, "Alright when I get to that 54, I'm done with him. F---ing idiot. That car is so f---ing fast. It f---ing pisses me off. Stupid. I'm going to vent for 15 seconds. I can't stand when idiots like him have fast race cars, that they can do stupid s--- and get away with it. End of rant."
Then, on lap 102, Preece drove into turn three behind Gibbs and Gibbs spun.
Preece reportedly said that he hated that Gibbs wrecked, emphasizing he wants to race drivers with respect and that he wants it in return or else he won't cut them a break.
NASCAR has often penalized drivers based on what they have said about on-track incidents, such as when they docked points from Denny Hamlin for an incident at Phoenix Raceway with Ross Chastain. On his fittingly-named "Actions Detrimental" podcast, Hamlin admitted the incident was intentional, leading to a 25-point penalty.
With Preece getting the same penalty, he effectively earned four points on the day. That gives some karma to Gibbs who earned eight points in the race and ultimately outpointed Preece on the day.
Gibbs is seventh in the NASCAR Cup Series points standings, 196 points behind leader Tyler Reddick and 95 points above the Chase cutline. Meanwhile, Preece is now 13th in the standings, 253 behind Reddick and 38 above the cutline.
Next is Watkins Glen, where Preece finished 13th last year while Gibbs finished 33rd. At the lone Cup road course race this year, at Circuit of the Americas, Gibbs finished fourth while Preece finished 18th.
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