Put another nail in the coffin of the “boys, have at it” mentality from years past – NASCAR Ford driver Austin Cindric has been penalized for intentionally sending Chevy driver Ty Dillon into the wall at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) on March 2nd, 2025.
According to the latest penalty report from NASCAR.com, officials determined that Cindric’s actions violated Sections 4.4 B&D: NASCAR Member Code of Conduct Penalty Options and Guidelines. Cindric was fined $50,000 and lost 50 driver points. That drops him from 11th to 35th in the standings heading into the forthcoming race at Phoenix.
As a reminder, the incident occurred on Lap 4 of the race at COTA. Cindric and Dillon were racing for a position outside the top 25 when the two made contact heading into a corner. Dillon’s No. 10 Chevy forced the No. 2 NASCAR Ford Mustang Dark Horse of Cindric off the track. When Cindric rejoined traffic, he intentionally hooked Dillon in frustration, sending him spinning.
Mike Forde, NASCAR managing director of racing communications, explained that officials considered suspending Cindric for his actions. They ultimately decided against it, though the wreck was similar to retaliatory crashes that resulted in suspensions in the past.
“In this case, we did feel that it was significantly different than the other two [wrecks that resulted in suspensions],” Forde said on the Hauler Talk podcast on Wednesday. “The reasons are, you look at it, it is at a road course. Lower speeds, tight confines to begin with. And the result didn’t even draw a caution flag. 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 we chose to err on the side of letting him race this weekend in Phoenix.”
The No. 5 Chevy team of Kyle Larson was also called out in the penalty report. Two of Larson’s crewmembers were suspended due to a wheel falling off the race car while under green flag conditions.
Comment
Ridiculous… NASCAR has always been known for being a highly competitive category… this payback didn’t seem out of the ordinary to me… if a driver doesn’t want to receive it, he shouldn’t cause one… now they punish the payback but not the cause of it? It’s starting to look like F1, because they don’t know why they’re losing the public’s interest!