Austin Cindric punishment sparks debate as new | Sports News

Austin Cindric’s actions at COTA and his subsequent punishment from NASCAR left many fans scratching their heads on how the organization decided the star’s punishment. 

During Lap 4 of the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix, Cindric was battling Ty Dillon for position and as they were doing so, the Kaulig Racing driver edged the Team Penske star by pushing him off the line. As the two were on the frontstretch, Cindric made contact with Dillon’s rear and spun him out. 

After review, NASCAR deemed the move to fall under intentionally wrecking another vehicle under Sections 4.4 B&D: NASCAR Member Code of Conduct Penalty Options and Guidelines. Despite ruling that Cindric’s actions were intentional, NASCAR instead gave out a punishment that caused confusion among fans. 

For his part in the incident, Cindric was docked 50 driver points – dropping him from 11th to 35th in the standings – and was fined $50,000. But Cindric was not given a one-race suspension for his intentional act, which most recently happened in 2023 with Chase Elliott on Denny Hamlin. 

That is notable after a change in NASCAR’s policies in the offseason, which now mean a driver missing a race due to suspension would lose all playoff points and be ineligible to win them until the postseason starts. The ruling means Cindric avoids that scenario. 

Fans immediately were caught off guard by the ruling with one stating: “Right hooking someone is right hooking them. Should be the same punishment no matter what the ‘speeds’ were.

Another had a more scathing review, posting: “You cannot call yourself a legitimate sport when your rules change week to week or when the rules you’ve written and spoken about on camera aren’t followed by the sanctioning body. So I will reiterate again. NASCAR needs new leadership. … NASCAR doesn’t have serious leadership. It has a dictatorial family who monopolizes every element of the sport and forces teams to bend to their will.”

Mike Forde, NASCAR’s managing director of racing communications, claimed that the reason why the organization did not give the Team Penske star a suspension was because the race was on a road course, which led to lower speeds, and because the incident didn’t lead to a caution flag. 

“The reason we landed on a points and fine – we take every situation, every violation as its own unique incident, and I know probably fans don’t love hearing that sentence, and it’s said a lot,” Forde said [h/t Kelly Crandall]. “But it’s said because it has to be said. It’s said because it’s true.

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“Sure, we do look at past instances to help inform us, educate ourselves on how we should handle each subsequent one. But each incident is very different. Maybe not very different but each is at least a little bit different and often times very different. In this case, we did feel it was significantly different than the previous two.

“And the reasons are, you look at it, it is at a road course (with) lower speed, tight confines to begin with and the result didn’t even draw a caution. 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 why we chose to err on the side of letting him race this weekend in Phoenix.”

Fans were not the only ones who were upset with the decision. In the immediate aftermath of being spun out, Dillon had some choice words for Cindric and his antics just four laps into the race.

“I’m not gonna say anything, but you know what I’m thinking. That was some absolute [expletive],” Dillon told his team over the radio after he was spun out. Dillon finished the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix in 28th while Cindric finished in 25th.