Inside The Garage: Defining Lines For NASCAR Retaliation

Here’s what’s happening this week Inside The Garage: Watkins Glen International (Watkins Glen, N.Y.) — Ryan Preece admitted he was surprised when NASCAR penalized him for wrecking Ty Gibbs at Texas Motor Speedway. And he wasn’t the only one. Preece will appeal his penalty of 25 points and $50,000 fine. And his appeal will center on the same May 3 race where Kyle Busch appeared to retaliate against John Hunter Nemechek but didn’t get penalized. NASCAR spokesman Mike Forde, speaking on a NASCAR podcast, said the telemetry data showed that Busch’s car likely was damaged, that he had his steering wheel turned left and his car went straight. So they couldn’t penalize him. The fact that Preece had said “When I get to that 54 [of Gibbs], I’m done with him” was enough to signal to NASCAR some premeditation. Preece is hopeful he can show on appeal that he didn’t wreck Gibbs on purpose as he indicated he just didn’t cut Gibbs a break. The one thing that could be tough for him is that NASCAR changed its appeal rules a couple years ago to where the appeals panel, if they find the rule was violated, can’t eliminate any portion of the penalty issued and can only adjust in the range specified. The 25 points and $50,000 are the lowest for the range of points and money for an intentionally wrecking penalty, so the appeals panel can’t wipe out the points and just increase the fine as has been done in the past. No date has been set yet for the appeal. “I’m a bit surprised,” Preece said at a news conference in Watkins Glen this past weekend. “I’m thankful that NASCAR has an appeals process.” The RFK Racing driver has been encouraged by team leadership to be himself and be bold. So Preece has to weigh that request with not wanting to be penalized if he vents a little on the radio. “At the beginning of the season, we were encouraged to be ourselves,” Preece said. “I’m not going to change being myself, but what I can say is that I’m excited for the appeals process, and I look forward to going through that.” His boss, Brad Keselowski, has been through a few appeals and “generally, I feel like they’re a pretty fair process.” Keselowski is one of two full-time owner-drivers in the sport. The other, Denny Hamlin, could give a view that wouldn’t impact an appeal. Hamlin said he thought Busch would get penalized and Preece would not. Which sparks the question of whether two people can look at the same SMT data and come up with different determinations. “No matter what, common sense has to be the first rule of thumb,” Hamlin told me. “And then you go from there, then you use data to either back up or deny common sense.” Drivers certainly will be watching to see how the NASCAR appeal panel rules. Keselowski said, somewhat in jest, that the line is always moving on what is acceptable and what is a penalty. “I would like to see NASCAR have race stewards,” said Keselowski, referring to other series that have former drivers who make those determinations on the spot in race control. “I think it would probably make it easier on them when calls like that are so difficult.” As far as the two drivers involved, they haven’t spoken. Preece said he would wait until after the appeal. “We got destroyed there and obviously that was last week, and we’ll let NASCAR figure that out,” Gibbs told me and other reporters. “But we got a wrecked race car and lost a lot of points for going three-wide bottom, and not making any contact [with Preece initially].” More Push-To-Pass Drama INDYCAR drivers certainly had something to say over the push-to-pass controversy at Long Beach, where INDYCAR did not disable the system for the restart. Twelve drivers used the system, which gives them a boost of 50 extra horsepower.  INDYCAR didn’t penalize anyone because the rule never said they couldn’t use it at the time, just that INDYCAR would disable it for the start and restarts. INDYCAR changed the rule to just apply to the initial start of the race, but also put the onus on the drivers that if they do push the button and it works when it’s not supposed to, the drivers will get penalized. “I’m surprised I didn’t press it more,” said four-time series champion Alex Palou, who used it for 15 seconds, according to an INDYCAR release of who used it. “I’m very surprised as well that they pinpointed at every single car that used it when it was not our fault, it was INDYCAR’s fault.” Kyle Kirkwood told Palou that he must have had an indicator to know that it was on because nearly all the Ganassi and Ganassi affiliate cars used it. “Everybody would have used it if they’d known it was active,” Kirkwood said. To that, Pato O’Ward said he was told it was active but didn’t use it. Why? “You know the rule,” he said. Blaney Re-Ups With Penske Ryan Blaney signed a contract with Team Penske that likely keeps him with the NASCAR organization at least through 2030. The 2023 Cup Series champion has spent his entire 13-year Cup career with the organization and said he didn’t look anywhere else. It’s been no secret that overall, Team Penske hasn’t had its best season. “I’m happy where I am,” Blaney told me and other reporters Saturday. “I have been happy where I am for a long time now. Roger [Penske] has been an unbelievable person to me. What he’s done for me and my career, I’m extremely grateful for. “No matter where your team’s at — if you’re top of the world, if you’re struggling to find speed, you’re working together to get where you want to be. There was never a moment where, like, ‘Man, I could do this and that somewhere else.’ That just doesn’t ever cross my mind. I work with the people I work with, and we try to all together to be the best we can.” His teammate, Joey Logano, told me he urged his team to get an extension done for Blaney, who at 32 years old with 18 Cup wins would be attractive to other organizations. “Ryan’s probably one of the best, if not the best driver on the racetrack right now,” Logano said. “So it’s a no-brainer to lock him in. That was my suggestion” Don’t be too late on this one. … Having some consistency helps. “Anytime there’s a driver change, you’ve got a year of learning what they’re like right at each track, what’s kind of their trends, and what do they want in their car versus yours. And when you’re looking at their notes versus what you’ve got, or their setups and those type of things, it’s not real clear. The picture is not clear for a couple of years.” In The News –Watkins Glen’s May race weekend was a one-and-done as the Cup Series will have its race at the track in the 2027 Chase sometime in September. The track did not say which support series would be part of that weekend. –The Joe Gibbs Racing-Chris Gabehart-Spire trial over whether Gabehart gave Spire any trade secrets in his move from JGR to Spire will be in January. JGR asked for November; Gabehart and Spire asked for April and the judge pretty much set it in the middle. Huge Winning Weekend Kaden Honeycutt won four races in two days in two states. In a wild Friday and Saturday, Honeycutt won the ARCA Series race at Watkins Glen and then followed it up with his first career NASCAR Truck Series victory with an upset on the road course. He went to Ace Speedway on Saturday and won the CARS Tour pro late model and late model stock events on the North Carolina short track. Social Spotlight Just Being Honest Christian Lundgaard won an INDYCAR race for the first time since 2023 when he captured his second career victory Saturday on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. “I hope that it doesn’t take another three years for another one,” he said. They Said It “Speechless. This is so cool.” — Shane van Gisbergen after his Cup Series win Sunday at Watkins Glen.