Kyle Busch And Denny Hamlin Call Out NASCAR After Surprising Austin Cindric Penalty

Austin Cindric’s $50,000 penalty is becoming a hot topic in NASCAR as drivers weighed in on the matter after the incident at the Circuit of the Americas where Cindric hooked the right rear of Ty Dillon’s car. NASCAR drivers Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin have offered their opinions on the penalty levied and whether it was enough.

Apart from the $50,000 fine, he also incurred a 50-point penalty. Busch believes the penalty wasn’t enough and that Cindric was let off lightly. He also suggested that NASCAR must be consistent with the rules. As reported by Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports on X, Busch said:

“I did it once and maybe twice, got off with it the first time, but definitely not the second time.

“Sat out a whole weekend, two more races the second time. You know that’s not his first offense, I don’t know if it’s his second offense. Like I said, some guys get off on based off who I think their last name is.”

He added:

“Yeah I mean, Bubba got it, right? At Vegas. I got it before so, I think there’s a couple of other guys who have got it. … Yeah.”

Calling for consistency in the way the rules are applied, Busch said:

“Rules change every week. … No. That’s, you should know that going in, you want to pull that move, you’re going to know that going in.

“I would not want to be in that business if I was NASCAR, calling balls and strikes is not who I want to be if I’m a NASCAR official. Intent is intent.”

Revealing what he thinks should be the penalty for a right hook, he said:

“Put it in the rulebook: A right hook will result in a one-race suspension. Period.”

While Dillon thinks the penalty wasn’t enough, Hamlin has revealed that the punishment needs to be based on the intent of the driver, which could be understood by studying the SMT data that would reveal every move of Cindric. As reported by Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports on X, he said:

“You just judge intent.

“Like I said, I don’t think the result should matter it’s the intent that really should matter.”

He added:

“I didn’t, so I didn’t see the data, I didn’t look at it then and I frankly didn’t have time to look at it this week.

“So, I don’t know. I don’t know what the intent was, I’d have to investigate it but that’s not my job.”

Hamlin also called for clarity in the rules, stating that a foul is a foul. He said:

“Sometimes it’s going to seem worse than it should be and sometimes it will seem like not enough. But that’s where you kind of got to draw the line and say it doesn’t matter what the result is, a foul is a foul, a flagrant one is a flagrant one.”