Hendrick Motorsports Makes Appeal Decision on William Byron Penalty

William Byron

Getty Hendrick Motorsports will appeal the penalties issued to William Byron.

NASCAR issued penalties to William Byron after he spun Denny Hamlin under caution during the race at Texas Motor Speedway. Now Hendrick Motorsports has announced its intention to appeal.

The team issued a short statement on Twitter after NASCAR sent out its weekly penalty report. “We will appeal the penalty issued today by NASCAR,” HMS said. There was no set date for the appeal, but it will likely take place before the trip to the Charlotte Roval. This road course race serves as the cutoff for the Round of 12.

Winning this appeal will not be a simple matter. There is video evidence showing Byron accelerating into the rear of the No. 11 Toyota under caution. Radio communication also caught the driver of the No. 24 saying, “Not going to take his bulls***. That’s all it is” after he hit Hamlin.

Finally, Byron admitted after the race that he had intentionally hit the No. 11 under caution while trying to show his displeasure for an earlier incident. Though he said that sending Hamlin sliding through the grass was not his intent.


1 Statement Could Benefit Hendrick Motorsports

William Byron

GettyWilliam Byron (left) & Rick Hendrick (right) celebrate a win at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Winning an appeal is never easy, and there are many teams that have failed. However, there is one statement that could potentially play in Hendrick Motorsports’ favor during this process.

Scott Miller, NASCAR’s SVP of competition, met with reporters after the race at Texas Motor Speedway. He said that the officials in the tower actually missed the contact from Byron that sent Hamlin spinning through the grass. Miller said that they were focused on Martin Truex Jr. and dispatching the safety equipment.

Saying that the people in the tower missed the incident could potentially open up the door for an argument. HMS could ask how they can be penalized for something that the officials didn’t see.

“They both made mistakes,” Kyle Larson, Byron’s teammate, said during a September 28 appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “William made a mistake and NASCAR, I feel like, in the end, probably made a bigger mistake by claiming that they missed it.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. expressed a similar sentiment. He said that he doesn’t believe that they missed the incident. He also said that they should have just come out and said that they were gathering the information and that they would handle everything.


A Cup Series Champion Was Seemingly Fine With the Delay

There were multiple conversations in the immediate aftermath of the Texas race. Some comments criticized NASCAR officials for not issuing a penalty during the race while others talked about the severity of those issued on September 27.

Joey Logano took a different route. He addressed the situation during “Behind the Wheel” on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio and indicated that he was fine with the amount of time NASCAR took before issuing the penalty. His reasoning was that the 25 points will have an impact on Byron’s season.

“You’ve got to have a little bit of grace for NASCAR on this,” Logano said. “You’re making a decision that impacts someone’s whole season because it’s during the playoffs. It impacts their whole season, and if you make a wrong call on this, ooh, it’s going to be a black eye on you.

“So taking your time to make the right call and understanding the whole situation. If you have the ability to take time, you should always take time.”

 

 

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