NASCAR issued Ty Gibbs a $75,000 fine on September 27 for his actions on pit road at Texas Motor Speedway. Now RFK Racing driver-owner Brad Keselowski has responded and said the penalty was not severe enough.
Keselowski weighed in during an episode of “NASCAR Race Hub” about Gibbs door slamming Ty Dillon on pit road, which put some officials and RFK Racing crew members in danger. He explained that he understood why Gibbs was upset with Dillon, but he also said that the Cup Series is not the place to make these mistakes.
“Pit road is not the place to fool around.” @keselowski shares his thoughts on Ty Gibbs and the penalty issued by #NASCAR. #RaceHub
“I can’t be mad at Ty. I did a lot dumber things when I was a teenager, to be honest,” Keselowski said. “But I wasn’t on this stage. This goes to a bigger problem we have about why we really don’t need teenagers at this level. Because this is not the place to learn those lessons.
“I actually think this penalty is not severe enough,” Keselowski continued. “I think we’re to the point now — where you have the body of work that Ty Gibbs has here — It’s time to take a race off. It’s time to take a race off and send a strong message here that ‘We’re not doing this on pit road, guys.'”
Keselowski continued and said that this moment on pit road will live forever on YouTube. He said that potential sponsors will Google Gibbs and see this move pop up as a result.
Keselowski Had Some Personal Attachment to the Situation
GettyBrad Keselowski practices at Texas Motor Speedway.
Keselowski made it clear that he didn’t see the Cup Series as a place where young drivers can learn not to make some of these mistakes with potentially dangerous outcomes. He also mentioned his connection to the people working nearby.
The crew that Dillon came close to hitting works for Keselowski. They are all on the No. 17 team, and they were out on pit road trying to fix a broken toe link on Chris Buescher’s Ford Mustang. These are people that Keselowski interacts with on a regular basis.
Of course, it doesn’t really matter that Keselowski employs these crew members. He specifically mentioned how they and the NASCAR officials are all people with families that were in danger of getting hit by a car traveling 50 mph. It was a situation that he wanted to avoid.
Gibbs Had Run-Ins With Multiple Drivers
The comments from Keselowski focused on Gibbs and the conflict with Dillon. However, the driver of the No. 42 is not the only member of Petty GMS with which he had a run-in during the trip to Texas Motor Speedway.
Erik Jones, the driver of the No. 43, turned heads during the early AM hours of September 28. He responded to Gibbs’ tweet apologizing for the incident, and he said, “Don’t ever bump me under yellow again.”
This comment obviously created questions. There were many people that wanted to know when this bumping occurred. SiriusXM’s Davey Segal provided the answer. He went and found a video showing Gibbs running into the rear of the No. 43 twice under caution before pulling to the inside and driving away.
No one knows exactly what caused the hits under caution, and there were many people unaware that they even happened until Jones sent out his early-morning tweet. However, the onboard cameras provided a partial answer.
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Brad Keselowski: Ty Gibbs Penalty ‘Not Severe Enough’