- Kurt Busch takes a stance against brother Kyle over Texas penalty decision.
- Kyle Busch cites an incident from his past when he was in a similar situation.
- NASCAR used radio and SMT data to penalise Ryan Preece & spare Kyle Busch.
It was last week, after the Texas race, that NASCAR handed down penalties to Ryan Preece for dumping Ty Gibbs while electing to spare Kyle Busch for wrecking John Hunter Nemechek.
Preece was hit with a 25-point deduction and a $50,000 fine after the incident that sent Gibbs into the Turn 3 wall during the skirmish.
While several veterans argued that Busch should have faced punishment for his role in the clash with Nemechek as well, it now appears that even Busch’s own brother, Kurt Busch, has lined up on the other side of the fence.
Kyle Busch gets no family pass from brother Kurt Busch
Hall of Famer Kurt Busch recently appeared on the latest episode of Dirty Mo Media’s “Door Bumper Clear” podcast and weighed in on the controversy. As NASCAR explained, one of the deciding factors behind penalizing Ryan Preece and not Kyle Busch centered on radio communication.
Preece had openly hinted over team radio that he intended to wreck Gibbs. Busch, meanwhile, never made such a statement before tangling with Nemechek. Kurt Busch took issue with that distinction.
He said, “Well, that’s the problem of the problem. NASCAR shouldn’t go off of what someone says on the radio. They should be able to still look at the eyeball test. What my brother did to John Hunter was the same exact thing. Now you’re in a courtroom. You may have or you could have. Like you change one little word in a sentence. But to have Preece penalized, not my brother. I mean, I have no problem saying it.”
Kurt Busch even reached back into his own past to underline the point, recalling how comments he made after a race once came back to haunt him like Preece’s case. On the contrary, Kyle Busch kept his cards close to the vest and escaped punishment.
Kurt recounted that there had been an All-Star Race where either Dale Earnhardt Jr. or Ryan Newman went on to win. Busch needed a caution flag, so he wrecked Robbie Gordon in hopes of bringing out yellow. He stayed quiet during the race itself. The caution came out, he got another set of tires, but still lacked the pace to capitalize.
However, two days later, during a Tuesday radio appearance, Kurt admitted that he had wrecked Gordon because he needed one more crack at it. By Wednesday, NASCAR had lowered the boom with a $100,000 fine and a points penalty despite the fact that the incident had taken place in the All-Star Race.
So Kurt Busch knows from firsthand experience how words can become the smoking gun in NASCAR’s courtroom.
In many ways, Kyle Busch may have played the situation perfectly by never openly threatening retaliation against John Hunter Nemechek. That silence likely saved him from a fine and from watching points go up in smoke.
What did NASCAR say about excusing Busch but penalizing Preece?
Following a review of team radio, race footage, and driver data, NASCAR chose to penalize Ryan Preece for the incident involving Ty Gibbs at Texas Motor Speedway.
That same process, however, led to no punishment for Kyle Busch after his collision with John Hunter Nemechek late in the race. Speaking on last week’s edition of the “Hauler Talk” podcast, NASCAR vice president of race communications Mike Forde detailed the reasoning behind the differing outcomes.
During an earlier caution period, Preece had radioed his team about Gibbs, saying: “What a *** idiot that kid is. He is so lucky his car is so *** fast. … All right, when I get to that 54, I’m done with him. *** idiot.”
Forde acknowledged that the radio communication played a role in NASCAR’s ruling.
Forde reasoned, “We do look at all available resources, whether that’s the video, in-car audio, SMT data. And really what this came down to is … (Preece) said what he said, and then he did what he said. And so in our view, it was intentionally wrecking another vehicle.”
Forde added that Preece, who later radioed his Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing team claiming he “never touched” Gibbs, still retains the right to appeal the penalty.
When explaining why NASCAR chose not to penalize Busch, Forde said competition strategist Scott Miller reviewed SMT data and found it inconclusive regarding whether Busch had intentionally wrecked Nemechek’s No. 42 Toyota.
The handling of Busch’s No. 8 RCR Chevrolet had also been compromised from damage sustained during an earlier run-in with Nemechek.
Forde stated, “The SMT data is largely what played a role for us in this decision. Elton Sawyer said the data told us that after the incident, (Busch) was turning the wheel all the way left just to go straight. So we had a feeling that he had some pretty significant damage.”
“And it was inconclusive on if that was a damaged vehicle that caused (Busch) to get into (Nemechek), or if it was intentional. There were zero things that, in our opinion, said he did this intentionally, and it rose to the level of penalty. So that’s why we landed on no penalty.”
Unlike Preece, Busch also avoided making any promises of payback over team radio before the incident unfolded.
“There was no audio that came out that said, ‘I’m going to wreck the 42,’ and then he wrecked the #42. So that’s one. And then two is the SMT data didn’t show anything that suggested that he did do it, and also the fact that his steering was so jacked, it showed that there was at least a plausible chance that his car had some damage that led to what happened,” Forde said.
Still, he mentioned that NASCAR has not swept the matter under the rug, and the officials plan to meet with Busch and leadership from Richard Childress Racing after the two-time Cup Series champion found himself in the middle of two flashpoints across the last four races. Busch had also tangled with Riley Herbst at Bristol Motor Speedway last month.
