Fire on Fridays: How a Pointless Points Penalty Killed the NASCAR Cup Chase Drama

Ryan Preece sure could use those 25 points back right about now.

And NASCAR and its fans could as well, as then there might actually be some drama surrounding the Chase cut line in the NASCAR Cup Series.

With two races before The Chase begins, Shane van Gisbergen sits in the 16th and final spot with a 50-point buffer over, you guessed it, Preece. Unless van Gisbergen or one of the drivers right above him in points have a catastrophic meltdown these next two weeks while Preece has two of his best races of the season, the Chase field is pretty much set. That means the cutoff race in NASCAR’s return to this postseason format could be fairly anticlimactic.

It gives anyone who was a proponent of the win-and-you’re-in playoff format a leg to stand on over the next two weeks, as the excitement in the regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway was that anyone could win, no matter how bad their season had been, and grab one of the 16 playoff spots.

Now, I’m still thankful that the system is gone, as this year, it will truly be the 16 best drivers of the year going for the championship. But still, some drama these next two weeks would’ve been nice.

And we could’ve had some drama for that final Chase spot had Preece not been penalized 25 points in May. NASCAR fined Preece 25 points and $50,000 after an incident with Ty Gibbs at Texas Motor Speedway. His No. 60 RFK Racing car wasn’t docked any owner points, so it sits only 25 points outside the owner’s Chase. Depending on how these next two weeks play out, the drivers’ and owners’ championship battles could look slightly different.

The penalty for Preece may not have sounded like much points-wise, but it was an extremely steep fine when you consider that he has averaged 21.5 points per race this season. NASCAR essentially disqualified him from even being in that race, and over a penalty that was completely uncalled for.

In that race, Preece grew frustrated with how Gibbs had been racing him, keyed up the radio, and said, “All right, when I get to that [No.] 54, I’m done with him. Fucking idiot.”

Not too long after that, Gibbs appeared to come down on the No. 60. Preece could have cut him a break and lifted, but instead, he held his ground, and the No. 54 went sliding into the wall. It’s not even that clear if Preece made contact with Gibbs’ back bumper or if it was simply the air off his nose that sent the Joe Gibbs Racing driver out of control. That wasn’t Preece intentionally wrecking Gibbs; it was him not cutting the latter a break, which has long been a part of racing.

After he got out of the car on that day, Preece spoke to Frontstretch, elaborating on the situation.

“I hate that he wrecked,” Preece said. “But decisions you make on the racetrack, there are repercussions, and I try to race everybody with an amount of respect that I’d like in return. When you don’t do that, I’m not going to cut you a break. That’s what happened.”

Preece and RFK appealed the penalty, but to no avail. Since then, van Gisbergen wrecked Austin Hill and Zane Smith wrecked Carson Hocevar, both occurring at Chicagoland Speedway in July. None of those parties were penalized at all, even though both incidents looked more egregious and more intentional than Preece’s on Gibbs. Preece responded to their lack of penalties by selling a T-shirt with the words “Don’t Hit the Button” on it, a slight jab at NASCAR only penalizing him because he talked about it on the radio.

To be clear, that’s why NASCAR penalized Preece and not the others. Had he not said anything on the radio, he’d probably have 25 more points and $50,000 right now.

That is an extremely stupid precedent that’s been set. It’s basically race control saying, “Hey, we’re not going to use our eyeballs and common sense, but rather if someone says something that could be taken as admission of guilt.” It’d be like if police only arrested the bank robbers who announced they were going to rob a bank, robbed said bank and then hung around the bank afterward to give the media interviews about it. It’s taught the drivers to not give fans their real thoughts on the in-car radio and lie to media afterward, but that’s a topic for a different day.

The thing to worry about for now is that because of this stupid penalty, Preece is 50 points out of The Chase instead of 25. If RFK had front-running speed, that gap would be more manageable. Preece could go to New Hampshire Motor Speedway, one of his best tracks, this weekend and cut a good 30 points into the deficit. But with the way the team has been running, he’ll be lucky to score 30 points total. If van Gisbergen scores his season average of 23 points, it’s just too little, too late for Preece. It’d take a van Gisbergen wreck and a huge points day from the No. 60 at Daytona to make up the remaining 43.

If the gap were 25 points, as it should be, Preece could gain seven points on van Gisbergen at New Hampshire and then make up most of the remaining 18 points in just the first two stages at Daytona. You’d see an RFK train helping Preece maximize his points before the final stage even came around. He’d still have his work cut out for him, but it would be much more possible to overcome, and it’d give the cutoff race a huge talking point.

As things stand, it’s going to take a Hail Mary from Preece, and I just don’t see it happening. But you watch, because these types of things tend to happen in NASCAR all the time: Preece is going to gain on the cut line these next two weeks and miss The Chase by less than 25 points. I can already imagine the outrage.