Two late-race incidents at Texas Motor Speedway had two very different outcomes. While NASCAR management penalized one driver in one incident, they let the other, Kyle Busch, go in another. This did not sit well with fans, who criticized the officials’ decisions. Now, NASCAR Cup Series Managing Director Brad Moran has finally come up with an answer.

The radio call that cost Ryan Preece 25 points

“It would have been pretty hard for us to say that that was just a little bit of aggressive racing,” he said on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

In the Würth 400, NASCAR handed Ryan Preece a $50,000 fine and a 25-point deduction for intentionally wrecking Ty Gibbs on lap 101. That penalty dropped him from 12th to 13th in the standings and cut his playoff buffer nearly in half.

That call may have been acceptable had a similar incident not happened. In the same field, Busch slammed John Hunter Nemechek into the wall, ending his race. However, officials neither deducted points from his tally nor fined him. But why?

Apparently, the evidence against Preece was hard to dispute. During a restart at the end of Stage 1, Gibbs made an aggressive three-wide move that visibly frustrated Preece. On the radio, he gave an expletive-filled rant: “When I get to that 54, I’m done with him.” After 28 laps, he made contact with Gibbs’ rear bumper entering Turn 3, sending the No. 54 into the wall. Gibbs finished 30th, while Preece finished 14th.

To justify their decision, NASCAR officials cited Sections 4.3 and 4.4A of the rulebook—behavioral guidelines on intentional wrecking. Later, Preece also appeared on SiriusXM and said he “could have cut him a break, but didn’t.” For NASCAR Managing Director Mike Forde, Preece “said what he said, and then he did what he did.”

But the Busch situation was quite different. On the white-flag lap, Nemechek drifted high off Turn 2 and then made contact with the left rear of Busch’s No. 8 car. Moments later, Busch’s car swung hard right and pinned Nemechek against the outside wall in Turn 3. The latter DNFed, and Busch finished fourth.

SMT telemetry had a different story to tell, though. The data showed that Busch’s steering wheel had turned to full left lock to keep the car going straight. NASCAR Senior VP of Competition Elton Sawyer confirmed that the initial contact damaged the right-front suspension. Busch also applied the brakes twice during the sequence. The officials read that as an attempt to regain control of the car and of his race.

Contrary to the previous situation, Busch did not retaliate on the radio. That is why he received the benefit of the doubt from NASCAR, and Preece didn’t. Busch’s post-race reaction was also different. He posted his SMT data and wrote, “I did not start this,” adding that Nemechek “doesn’t know where the right side of his car is.”

Nemechek also fired back on X. He wrote, “Not freaking clear. Great day going and just got racked. What an a**.”

Now that we have a clear picture of both incidents, let’s look at the outcome. The 25-point deduction wiped out RFK Racing’s points gained from the race, leaving Preece just 38 points above the playoff cut line. While RCR’s Busch, even after finishing fourth, held on to his position. The gap between the two situations has widened by nearly a full race’s worth of points now.

However, this is not the first time officials have reviewed and cleared Busch in such a situation.

Kyle Busch’s team and its current position in the Cup Series

Weeks before this incident at Bristol, Busch and Riley Herbst collided, with many drivers and experts calling it deliberate. However, NASCAR found no radio evidence of any intent. Texas was the second time this has happened in well under a month. Forde had something to say about it: “This is the second time in a month we’ve looked at the No. 8 car. First of all, while he got the benefit of the doubt today, the leash is getting shorter.”

The No. 8 refers to Busch’s car. He and RCR owner Richard Childress were both called into the NASCAR hauler. Officials clarified they would view any future incidents involving the No. 8 through the lens of the past two events. The benefit of the doubt, as Forde confirmed, will not last indefinitely.

The timing of it all makes it more complex. Just 96 hours before the Texas race, RCR replaced crew chief Jim Pohlman with Andy Street. Pohlman was the one who factored in during the 2023 season when Busch won three times. Whereas Street was RCR’s Xfinity program expert. This move was supposed to be a reset, but it didn’t turn out that way.

Busch came to Texas 27th in points. This is his lowest position at this stage of the season in the last 20 years. He has a record he doesn’t want: a 100-race winless streak. Despite changing crew chiefs, Busch’s No. 8 ran between 20th and 25th for most of the race. Telemetry showed his car lost grip mid-corner, forcing Busch to ease off the throttle while others sped up.

He is currently 115 points below the playoff cut line without a win, making the playoffs look like an impossible dream. But for now, the season is about to reach its midpoint. Busch got the second pass of the season and now must focus on not giving the officials any reason to doubt.

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