NASCAR determined its penalties for the manipulation at the end of Sunday’s race at Martinsville Speedway based on the last time it occurred, but it wanted to go further. And the series vowed to continue to ramp up its punishment if things don’t change.
Nine individuals from three teams were suspended on Tuesday. The crew chiefs and drivers were fined a total of $600,000, and points were docked. NASCAR was reacting to William Byron and Christopher Bell, who were helping their manufacturer teammates advance into the Championship 4.
The most recent race manipulation penalty was for Stewart-Haas Racing’s No. 41 team for helping teammate Chase Briscoe at the Charlotte Roval. The penalties were points, fines, and suspensions, as NASCAR did this time around for Richard Childress Racing, Trackhouse Racing, and 23XI Racing.
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“We felt like we wanted to ramp this one up, and we did,” Elton Sawyer, NASCAR senior vice president of competition, said. “We did that in a way that we included team leadership in this one. It’s something we feel like we want to get our point across that it’s a responsibility of all of us – the team owners, the team leadership, as well as ourselves here at NASCAR – to uphold the integrity of our sport and our racing, to make sure that when our fans show up on a given day and watch a race, they’re seeing the best competition possible, and there’s nothing that’s in there manipulating that.
“We do feel like this is the right path at this time. We will make sure going forward if we need to, we will ramp it up again. We will include drivers. We will include OEMs going forward if we need to. We will get this point across.”
The in-car audio communication indicated plans to help manufacturer teammates at Martinsville. Sawyer admitted that the variable was considered in the penalty; however, nothing in the NASCAR Rule Book goes toward manufacturers being penalized.
“So, we will look at that in the offseason,” he said.
No driver involved was suspended. Austin Dillon, Ross Chastain, and Bubba Wallace were issued fines and docked points.
Dillon and Chastain stayed behind Byron in the closing laps. At times, they ran side-by-side, which blocked the track from other competitors.
Wallace slowed on the final lap. Bell needed one position to beat Byron on a tiebreaker.
Again, Sawyer said the suspension of the drivers was considered. However, the focus was on the team leadership.
“Something that we haven’t done in the past,” Sawyer said. “I promise you, that does not exclude (it from happening) going forward. And we have meetings coming up this week with the drivers and will get that point across to them and be very clear that when you do anything that is going to compromise the integrity of our sport, we are going to react.”
The meeting between NASCAR and the drivers was already on the books as part of its regular competition briefings. However, NASCAR has added a meeting with the manufacturer partners to discuss the events from Martinsville Speedway and expectations going forward.
All three teams have announced plans to appeal the penalties.
NASCAR did not penalize Byron or Bell. Sawyer said its review showed no evidence of misconduct from Byron’s radio. Bell’s penalty was called on Sunday night for riding the wall.