NASCAR insider reacts to huge penalties issued after Martinsville

NASCAR handed down a penalty ruling on Tuesday, docking three teams $100,000 and 50 driver points, while also suspending their crew chief, spotter and one team executive.

The penalties stemmed from a contentious finish at Martinsville in the Cup Series, where race manipulation certainly seemed to be at play on multiple fronts.

At least one NASCAR insider isn’t sold that the organization’s penalties will do much to curb the behavior in the future.

“Not nearly enough to send a firm message or change anything in the future, IMO,” wrote The Athletic’s Jeff Gluck on Twitter. “This will happen again, and soon.”

The racing in question occurred late in the NASCAR race at Martinsville.

With William Byron and Christopher Bell jockeying for position on the track as they looked to secure the final playoff spot on points, some questionable racing entered the mix.

First, audio communications from Austin Dillon‘s team made reference to “knowing the deal,” seemingly implying there was a certain course of action to take based on how the race was unfolding. Shortly after, two Chevrolet cars began paving the way for Byron.

Dillon and fellow Chevrolet driver Ross Chastain got behind Byron and appeared to block the track up for him. Byron, also a Chevrolet driver, had been losing ground to the field steadily, with his small margin on points clearly in jeopardy.

That wasn’t the only potential collusion in the NASCAR Cup Series race, though.

As Bell looked to make up key positioning on the field, he quickly passed Bubba Wallace, who appeared to slow down on the track. Wallace would later note that he felt like he had a tire going down.

Whatever the case, the end result was that Bell pulled even with Byron on points. Because he owned the tiebreaker, that would have been enough to send him through to the Championship 4.

Instead, Bell got loose into the wall in the final turn and stayed in the gas, riding the wall as he neared the finish line. NASCAR would penalize him for a safety violation, knocking him back to P22 and giving Byron the points clearance to advance.

Still, the entire affair raised questions about the integrity of the race. NASCAR handed down some stiff penalties. Stiff enough? That’s a matter of opinion, and at least Gluck believes the enforcement was lacking.