At the Texas Motor Speedway, it appeared as if Kyle Busch finally had a fighting chance. However, the tussle with John Hunter Nemechek ended what looked like a good top-10 run. Busch went on to post about the incident on X, presenting SMT data in his defense. 

During a recent interaction with the media before the All-Star race, the No. 8 RCR driver explained how he did not get penalized for the incident, but Ryan Preece had to bear the brunt for a separate incident with Ty Gibbs in the same race, one that many found very similar to Busch's.

When asked if his post showing the data played a role in NASCAR not penalizing him, Rowdy said, “No. My post didn’t have anything to do with that. My car was broken."

In his post, along with the data imagery, Kyle Busch had written, "The 42 apparently doesn’t know where the RS of his car is and where he is in relation to the outside wall. There was 2 ft outside him and I was judging my left side tires to the hash marks."

"Go ask NASCAR for the pictures, it was plenty broken," Busch added to the media. And when they asked if Preece's car was also broken, he said, "His car wasn't broken."

Busch and Nemechek came in contact during the final lap of the race. Nemecheck was driving on the outside lane when Busch suddenly shoved in front of him. Nemecheck, not liking this, went after him. They both had a clash and that sent Nemecheck spinning and hitting the outer barrier, and his car taking considerable damage. 

Meanwhile, Ryan Preece was charged USD 50000 and was docked 25 points. The RFK driver pushed past Gibbs’ Toyota on Turn 3 at Lap 101, resulting in Gibbs losing traction and hitting the wall. 

Moments earlier, the two drivers had come close to bumping each other. This led to a frustrated Preece chastising the Toyota driver over the comms radio, saying, “What a [expletive] idiot that kid is. He is so lucky his car is so [expletive] fast. All right, when I get to that 54, I’m done with him. [expletive] idiot.”

This was also explained by the NASCAR vice president of race communications, Mike Forde. 

Mike Forde: “We do look at all available resources”

On the Hauler Talk podcast, Forde explained that Preece’s comments on the radio before the incident played a key role in his getting fined. He stated NASCAR looks for any and every type of evidence available before taking a final call. 

“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 this: Preece said what he said, and then he did what he said. And so in our view, it was intentionally wrecking another vehicle.”

Forde was also asked about the Busch-Nemechek incident from the same race, for which he explained the findings from Elton Sawyer, NASCAR vice president of competition.

According to him, Sawyer saw Busch’s steering wheel pointed towards the left even as he was going straight, which, to them, was evidence of damage. 

He also added that the SMT data was inconclusive, and there was no audio evidence of Busch swearing against Nemechek at the moment, which is why NASCAR declined to fine the RCR driver. 

About this, Kyle's brother Kurt Busch gave his two cents saying NASCAR shouldn't pass their judgement based on the radio talk. "They should be able to still look at the eyeball test.”

“What my brother did to John Hunter was the exact same thing… But to have Preece penalized and not my brother, I mean I have no problem saying it. They both should have been in the same doghouse, personally,” he added.

What do you feel about the punishment of Ryan Preece while Busch is unaffected? 

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Written by

Aaradhya Singh

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason