Was NASCAR’s decision to penalize Ryan Preece soft?
Yes. Charmin soft. So soft, in fact, that RFK Racing plans to appeal the penalty after it came down from NASCAR earlier this week. That penalty was a $50,000 fine and a loss of 25 points, which is no small amount.
NASCAR’s Mike Ford spoke about Preece’s incident on Hauler Talk this week, where he said that Ryan Preece received such a penalty because he clearly stated that he planned to wreck Ty Gibbs, and then went and did it. In contrast, Kyle Busch received no penalty for crashing John Hunter Nemechek, but I digress on that front.
The head-scratcher here isn’t necessarily that Preece was penalized for his actions, but that the severity of the penalty runs directly counter to what NASCAR’s new CEO, Steve O’Donnell, said not long ago at Talladega.
O’Donnell said he wanted to see drivers be their authentic selves and believed drivers would be more relatable if fans could connect with them more, rather than being stiff PR machines. If you were to ask Preece if he thought that he was being himself, a modified short-track racer from Berlin, Connecticut, he would probably tell you, “Hell yeah.”
So what does a good outcome look like here? What exactly will RFK look to gain from its appeal? That answer is simple: points.
Preece and RFK would more than likely prefer to pay a higher monetary fine rather than lose points towards The Chase, and who could blame them? Under this new format, points penalties are going to loom large, and 25 is no small number among the upper-echelon of the series right now (outside of Tyler Reddick).
Nobody expects NASCAR to do nothing when incidents like this happen, but if they want drivers to start being themselves while still holding them accountable to an appropriate extent, penalties will need to focus less on points and more on monetary fines going forward. If you want to keep drivers authentic, they need to feel they can be authentically pissed off without ruining an entire season of racing.
Did NASCAR make the right decision to move Watkins Glen to September in 2027?
For those who are fans of the historic Finger Lakes road course, yesterday brought some much-needed news: the 2027 Watkins Glen race will no longer be in the wet season of Spring but will be moved to the drier season of September and will be part of The Chase next year.
NASCAR actually got this one right, as evidenced by the sheer number of tweets and photos from campers who became mired in the mud around the track’s campgrounds yesterday.
The move isn’t surprising, as ever since the yearly event was moved back to the Spring, fans have bemoaned the New England climate at this time of year. That being said, the interesting question now becomes what track will take the place of the Glen’s spring date? A few road courses come to mind, and no, it shouldn’t be replaced by an oval.
The answer is simple: just swap Sonoma and the Glen and call it a day. Sonoma in June is gorgeous, for sure, but the California spring weather cannot be beat. It would be perfect weather for a day at the race track more times than not, and be the perfect antecedent to the September date at the Glen.
Additionally, while they’re close to other marquee NASCAR venues, Road Atlanta and Barber Motorsports Park are both road courses that could draw intrigue. If it weren’t for the track being too narrow, seeing 40-ish Cup cars take on Laguna Seca’s corkscrew would also be a sight to see.
As someone who appreciates road course racing, especially in the Next Gen car (it’s one of the few things it does well), this is a smart decision and a no-brainer for NASCAR’s top brass.
Should more drivers take control of their personal brand?
Unless you’ve been under a rock the last few weeks, NASCAR’s media darling, Carson Hocevar, has taken center stage following his win at Talladega. From attending the Met Gala to bringing even more attention to dirt late model racing, the Michigander has been everywhere, and that’s a good thing for the sport no matter how you slice it.
The more intriguing part, though, is that Hocevar is 100% in control of all his social media accounts. To those who have never worked in the media field, that’s unheard of at this stage in his career, and it’s a full-time job in itself in most cases. Managing them himself, though, ensures that Hocevar controls his entire message flow and virtual branding, and that makes him that much more relatable to fans.
Other drivers should absolutely adopt this approach, even if it means more time on their phones or laptops. To go back to O’Donnell’s comments about wanting drivers to feel relatable, how exactly does one appear “relatable” through a screen? They control everything about what’s put on the screen.
One of the things that perplexes those who couldn’t care less about the digital world is streaming. Who in their right mind would pay to watch someone else play a game? And while I agree that it doesn’t make sense in a vacuum, when you think about it as a celebrity offering their personality up to the world at the highest degree, it makes complete sense.
Think about it this way: before cell phones, people used to wait in droves outside restaurants and bars just to get a glimpse of their favorite celebrity. They craved that parasocial relationship, and still do. Now, through streams and direct brand control, athletes have the power to tell their own stories in their own voice, and that’s exactly what Hocevar does. In fact, it’s the main reason why he’s next on the list for NASCAR’s most popular driver. Other drivers should follow suit.
Could we see a NASCAR race in Switzerland?
You read that right. And with NASCAR looking to add more races abroad, Switzerland just added itself to the list for a potential host site, but it’s not for the reason one might imagine.
Back in 1955, a complete disaster occurred at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Mercedes driver Pierre Levegh crashed mid-race, and his car careened into a spectator area. More than 80 people lost their lives that day, including Levegh. The incident became so infamous and was so tragic that Switzerland, a completely separate country, placed a ban on circuit racing entirely, and kept it for 71 years, only allowing select series to compete.
Now, the ban will lift on July 1 later this year. The driving factor behind this shift is presumably Formula 1, but ever since Formula E began staging a few races back in the late 2010s, the population has yearned for more and more motorsport.
Could NASCAR get itself on the radar? Would there be a more pristine backdrop on the calendar than seeing stock cars fly through the beautiful streets of historic Bern or Zurich? These are people who, despite their country having a ban on it, oddly enough, love all forms of racing from rallying to open-wheel grand prix.
If there was ever a chance for NASCAR to break into any sort of European market, it may finally have its opening.
Tanner Marlar is a staff writer for Sports Illustrated’s OnSI Network, a contributor for multiple automotive news outlets, an award-winning sports columnist and talk show host, and a PhD. student at a premier college of media and mass communication. Tanner began working with Frontstretch in 2022, covering the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series.
Why is it an issue to put a race in May where Watkins Glen is now? Since its moving to Sept, whatever race date its moving to would have its date swapped. Looks like it would be World Wide Technology raceway that would move.