NASCAR: Suspension was on Table for Austin Cindric for COTA Incident
Leading into Wednesday's announcement of penalties to Austin Cindric from NASCAR, which included a $50,000 fine and a 50-point deduction, many speculated whether Cindric would draw a one-race suspension for his part in an incident with Ty Dillon in last Sunday's EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas.
The reason a one-race suspension was debated heavily in relation to the incident is that Cindric swerved and right-rear hooked Dillon's No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet on Lap 4 in frustration after an incident moments prior between the two drivers. Over the last few seasons, right-rear hooking moves have resulted in suspensions in the NASCAR Cup Series.
In October 2022, Bubba Wallace was suspended for one race for retaliating against Kyle Larson in the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. A season later, the sport's Most Popular Driver Chase Elliott was suspended for retaliation against Denny Hamlin in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Both instances of retaliation were hooks executed into the right-rear quarterpanels of the victims of the accidents.
So, why didn't Cindric's right-rear hook of Dillon result in a one-race suspension? On this week's edition of Hauler Talk, an official NASCAR Podcast hosted by NASCAR Representatives Mike Forde, Amanda Ellis, and NBC Sports journalist Nate Ryan, Forde explained that each incident is treated as an individual case, and the NASCAR Competition team has a meeting to discuss any penalties whether it be for an on-track incident or a technical rules violation.
Forde, who says he was in the room as the Cindric penalties were discussed and ultimately agreed upon, says that a one-race suspension was on the table for the driver of the No. 2 Team Penske Ford Mustang Dark Horse, but that several factors around the track, and incident itself led to a simple monetary fine and point deduction for Cindric.
"In this case, we did feel that it was significantly different than the other two," Forde explained. "The reasons are, you look at it, it is at a road course. Lower speeds, tight confines to begin with. And the result didn't even draw a caution flag. Now, obviously, the caution flag doesn't come out as quickly on road courses, anyway, but that did not draw a caution. So, those were really the reasons we chose to err on the side of letting him race this weekend in Phoenix, going with a fine and a significant driver points penalty of 50 points. We did look back at say, Carson Hocevar, for instance. [He spun Harrison Burton] At Nashville last year, he got a 25-point fine. That incident was under caution, so, a little bit different, of course. But we did ramp it up a little bit, thought this was a little bit more severe, but not deserving of a one-race suspension."
While Forde knows varying penalties for similar incidents is not a popular move, he says the sanctioning body feels the call to not suspend Cindric was the correct one following the incident at COTA.
"My guess is that there is going to be several people who feel this is the wrong call, and it may not be the popular call. But when we look at penalties, we do not really care how popular we are. We try to do the right thing here, and what we felt was the right thing was this penalty," Forde said. "We felt that if we suspended him, the punishment wouldn't have fit the crime. It was probably going to be too severe of a punishment. We felt the right thing to do was hit his wallet, and hit his points wallet."
The frustrating start to Cindric's season, which saw him crashed from battles for the win at the end of each of the opening two races was brought up in the debate about the Cindric penalties, but Forde says he doesn't feel that ultimately played a hand in the decision that was ultimately handed down.
"Maybe subconsciously, but not consciously. So that, [Cindric's season to date] was brought up. We understand why he did it, I think. Because the frustration was at a boiling point, so we understand why he did it. Doesn't make it right, and didn't come into our thought process of why we should land here," Forde noted. "It was strictly because of I think the speeds, and the venue were large parts of this. We didn't view this the same as right-rearing at 180 miles-per-hour or whatever it was for both the Bubba Wallace and Chase Elliott incidents at mile-and-a-half tracks, right in that trioval area where they ended up into the wall."
Forde continued, "But I will say, what you just said was brought up, and just because I think it was helpful to tell the story of his season, and what led into this. Whether that was brought up as something to think about as food for thought or was just, hey, it's kind of if you're wondering why somebody who seems like a pretty level-headed dude in Austin Cindric would do something like that, this is probably why he did something like that."
While Cindric will be allowed to compete in this weekend's NASCAR Cup Series Shriners Children's 500 at Phoenix Raceway, he will now have to begin a climb out of a massive hole that he now finds himself in the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings.
Wednesday's penalties dropped Cindric from ranking 11th in the championship standings, 36 points outside of the point lead, to now being slotted 34th in the championship standings, 86 points outside of the point lead.
It's going to be a tough climb, but there could be no better track for a Team Penske driver to be heading to needing a good day than Phoenix Raceway. The Team Penske organization has secured the NASCAR Cup Series championship in each of the last three seasons at the venue as Joey Logano won the 2022, and 2024 editions of the championship race at the one-mile oval, and Ryan Blaney finished runner-up in 2023 to secure the championship that season.
If Cindric can come out and pick up where his Penske teammates have left off at Phoenix on Sunday, he could very well walk out of Avondale, AZ with his third career NASCAR Cup Series win, and if he were able to do that, he would wipe out the point deficit by punching his ticket to the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, which is a win, and you're in format.
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Toby Christie is the Editor-in-Chief of Racing America. He has 15 years of experience as a motorsports journalist and has been with Racing America since 2023.