Actions Louder than Words: What Recent Penalties Say About NASCAR Leadership

After a recent driver meeting with NASCAR leadership regarding the safety (or lack thereof) of the next gen car, Kevin Harvick told The Associated Press, “Actions are a lot louder than words.” The veteran driver of the Stewart-Haas Racing 4 car seems to have a point. NASCAR leadership consistently reminds us of this fact, although not in any sort of positive manner. When compared with their actions, their words are often easily seen through as empty. It may even be the case that this is the only area in which NASCAR leadership offers its competitors and fans anything that resembles transparency.

If we cannot trust the words that NASCAR leadership offers us, then we must look to their actions for meaning. Specifically, penalties are a category of actions which could help shed light on what is truly important to NASCAR leadership. So, then, the question becomes, “What do recent penalties say about the priorities of NASCAR leadership?”

The short answer to this question is that recent penalties say a lot about NASCAR leadership. Fans are currently debating this topic across social media. Even competitors and owners are asking themselves these questions. Tony Stewart implied, albeit somewhat jokingly, that he was looking for a new way to spend his weekends in a recent tweet. This is all in response to the recent penalty issued to Cole Custer, driver of the Stewart-Haas 41 car.

During the closing laps of the playoff cutoff race at the Charlotte Roval, it appears to be the case that Cole Custer slowed entering the backstretch chicane. This action held up the 3 car and the 43 car, while the 14 car, driven by Custer’s teammate – Chase Briscoe, was able to pass by on the inside. NASCAR’s Senior VP of Competition, Scott Miller, explained that the penalty issued to Custer was a result of this action and the instructions from his crew chief, Michael Shiplett, were the justification for the $100,000 fine and 50 driver point penalty issued to Cole Custer. It also served as the justification for the indefinite suspension of Michael Shiplett, who was also fined $100,000. The 41 car was also docked 50 car owner points as well. This is the largest penalty issued for such an action since the Michael Waltrip Racing penalty of 2013 issued for what is commonly referred to as “spingate.”

The Michael Waltrip Racing incident of 2013, however, was not the incident that immediately came to mind for many NASCAR fans. Fans were quick to notice a disconnect between this Stewart-Haas penalty and the lack of penalties issued for two similar incidents in the past two season’s playoffs. The first incident that many fans jumped to was the lack of a penalty issued to Chase Elliott for his retaliatory actions against Kevin Harvick in the night race at Bristol in 2021. In this incident, Elliott suffered a cut tire from contact with Harvick while racing for the lead. Elliott pitted and asked, over radio communications, where the 5 car was located, and stated that he planned on helping the 5 car out. Elliott then went back out multiple laps down and blocked the leader of the race (Harvick) for multiple laps. This went on long enough for Kyle Larson (in the 5 car) to catch and pass the leader.

The other incident that came to mind for many fans was the Martinsville 2020 cutoff race. In this case, Erik Jones was driving the 20 car for Joe Gibbs Racing. Denny Hamlin’s 11 car was fading quickly, as the Joe Gibbs Racing driver was barely holding on to make it into the championship 4. Upon reaching the 11 car, Erik Jones was instructed by his team over radio communications to not pass the 11 car. The 20 car not only did not pass the 11 car, but also held up race traffic behind him, in almost identical fashion to what the 41 car did this past weekend at the Roval. This resulted in a huge “game 7 moment” in which, Harvick attempted to spin Kyle Busch exiting the final turn of the race in order to gain the point he needed to make it in to the championship four.

While many fans have been quick to blame favoritism and bias when comparing these three nearly identical incidents, I am not so sure that favoritism is to blame. The incidents of 2020 and 2021 both resulted in memorable racing moments. In my opinion, this is why those two incidents did not result in any penalties. Regardless of the reasons behind it, we are all well aware of NASCAR’s inconsistency when it comes to issuing the same penalty across the board. I am much more interested in comparing this penalty to another recent penalty.

The incident (and penalty) that I am most interested in looking at is the recent penalty given to Ty Gibbs, driver of the 23 23X1 Toyota. Ty Gibbs was fined $75,000, 25 driver points, and 25 car owner points for his actions on pit road at Texas. This was a behavioral penalty that revolved around endangering the lives of pit crew members. Ty Gibbs door slammed the 42 car on pit road at Texas. It is obvious how such an action could affect the safety of pit crew members on pit road. The facts are that this action resulted in a total fine of $75,000 and 50 points in total being docked, while the Cole Custer penalty from the Roval resulted in a total fine of $200,000 and 100 points in total being docked. What does this comparison of penalties say about NASCAR leadership?

The difference in penalties for Ty Gibbs and Cole Custer says a lot more about NASCAR leadership than the comparisons between the penalty for Custer and the lack thereof for Erik Jones and Chase Elliott. It certainly makes it hard to believe the words delivered to the fans by NASCAR President Steve Phelps prior to this past weekend’s race. If NASCAR leadership cares more maintaining the appearance of integrity for the playoffs than they care about the safety of pit crew members, why should we believe they actually care about driver safety? Why should we trust them to stand by their words when their actions indicate the exact opposite regarding the safety of those who compete in the sport?

It is clear that NASCAR leadership is much more concerned with micro-managing their product than they are with safety. One only has to compare the severity of a penalty issued to a driver who “attempts to manipulate” the outcome of a race with the severity of a penalty issued to a driver who not only endangered the lives of pit crew members, but also NASCAR’s own race officials on pit road.  With these penalties, NASCAR’s current leadership has made it quite clear what their true priorities are. Their actions, in the form of these penalties, certainly do speak a lot louder than their words.