Ty Dillon calls on NASCAR to "do a better job" after Austin Cindric penalty

Ty Dillon has reacted to the penalty given to Austin Cindric after his right-rear hook during the NASCAR Cup Series race at the Circuit of the Americas last weekend.

Cindric has struggled so far this 2025 season, and after crashes at the Daytona 500 and Atlanta, the driver received a $50,000 fine and a 50-point penalty after turning Dillon around with a rear-right hook. This came after he started the race towards the back of the grid. When Dillon pushed him wide on lap 4, he lashed out in anger and spun his competitor around on the frontstretch. Dillon's car hit Zane Smith's car lightly before colliding with the outside wall.

The No. 10 Chevrolet ZL1 sustained significant damage according to Kaulig Racing president Chris Rice, who told SiriusXM that the repair cost extended into the six-figures. With the penalty applied, the driver dropped from 11th to 34th in the Drivers' Standings.

Typically, an incident like this would see a driver suspension, but that wasn't the case this week. NASCAR managing director of racing communications Mike Ford explained the reasoning behind the decision:

"The reason we landed on the points and fine is we take every situation and every violation as its own unique incident, and I know fans probably don't love hearing that, but it's said because it's true.

"Sure, we do look at past instances to help educate ourselves on how we should handle each subsequent one, but each incident is very different.

"In this case, we did feel that it was significantly different than the previous two. And the reasons are it is at a road course with lower speeds to begin with, and the results didn't even draw a caution flag.

"So those were really the reasons why we chose to err on the side of letting (Cindric) race this weekend in Phoenix with a fine and a significant driver points penalty.

"When I hit social media after this penalty is announced, my guess is that there is going to be several people who feel this is the wrong call. And it may not be the popular call, but when we look at penalties, we do not really care how popular we are. We try to do the right thing here."

Ty Dillon, Kaulig Racing Chevrolet

Photo by: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

When asked by The Athletic's Jeff Gluck about his thoughts after experiencing the situation firsthand at Phoenix this weekend, Dillon admitted he was surprised at the penalty choice:

“I was expecting a one-race suspension,” he admitted. “I’m glad they did something though. I think 50 points and $50,000 is probably enough to make him think about doing something like that again. But I think a one-race suspension is what most of us expected. They set a standard a couple years ago.”

He pushed further, adding that he expects more standardised penalties from the racing series.

“That’s where maybe NASCAR gets themselves in a little bit of trouble, is when you try to play in grey areas of what’s fast enough. … We’ve just got to [do] a better job of just making those calls black and white and setting a little bit better standard.”