NASCAR Defends Preece Penalty as RFK Appeals

The Preece/Gibbs incident wasn’t the only one that caught NASCAR’s attention. Headed for the white flag, there was a door banging incident between Kyle Busch and John Hunter Nemechek that sent Nemechek into the wall. Both finished the race and within one position of each other. Busch finished 20th and Nemechek 21st. Moran said no penalties were assessed in that incident after everything was reviewed because it was determined Busch’s car was difficult to turn because of damage sustained when his Chevrolet hit the outside wall.

“They went down into turn three on the last lap and everything we looked at we felt we could not issue a penalty on all the information we had,” Moran said.

Moran said the car’s toe links will bend when hitting the wall like Busch’s did and that makes the car a “handful.”

“Going into the corner for the first time with a damaged car, we took that as part of the information that led us not to do the penalty on the eight car (Busch),” Moran said.

Moran said NASCAR would have a discussion with Busch and Nemechek at Watkins Glen prior to this weekend’s race. He said they wanted to make sure everything was good with both drivers so something larger didn’t occur that would force NASCAR to get involved.

Moran says he knows people believe if a penalty is issued for one incident, it should be assessed for the other, but that’s not the way NASCAR operates.

“We look at every incident individually,” said Moran, who noted audio, video and data was used in the Busch/Nemechek incident.

In Saturday’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race, Mason Maggio and Austin Green tangled and spun in turn two. After the caution period began, Maggio restarted his car, pulled up the track in front of an emergency vehicle and nearly hit the pace car. The pace car driver took evasive action to avoid the collision. Moran said NASCAR met with Maggio and his spotter after that race.