Getty NASCAR has issued a penalty to Ty Gibbs after the Texas race.
Ty Gibbs made the decision at Texas Motor Speedway to door slam Ty Dillon on pit road with officials and pit crew members in the immediate area. Now NASCAR has responded by issuing penalties to both him and 23XI Racing.
The sanctioning body announced the news on September 27 with the penalty report. Gibbs received a $75,000 fine for his actions. He is not eligible for points in the Cup Series, so NASCAR docked 23XI Racing 25 owner points. This will drop the No. 23 Toyota Camry below the No. 31 Chevrolet Camaro of Kaulig Racing in the standings.
“Whether you’re 9, 19 or 29, you don’t use your race car for retaliation on pit road with pit crew members and #NASCAR officials out there.” Reaction to the pit road run-in between Ty Gibbs and Ty Dillon.
According to the penalty report, Gibbs’ actions were in violation of Sections 4.3.A & 4.4.C of the NASCAR Rule Book: NASCAR Member Code of Conduct. The notes also listed “retaliatory vehicle contact on pit road with crew members/officials in close
proximity; second offense.”
The ‘Second Offense’ References Another Situation
GettyTy Gibbs received a different fine after a race at Martinsville Speedway.
There were questions about the words “second offense” once the penalty report became public. NASCAR has since confirmed that this verbiage refers to a previous incident involving Gibbs.
The incident in question took place at Martinsville Speedway. Gibbs made contact with Sam Mayer’s No. 1 Chevrolet in the pits after an Xfinity Series race. He and the JR Motorsports driver then took part in a post-race fight. These actions led to NASCAR fining Gibbs $15,000. The contact with Dillon was then his second incident on pit road.
“It’s certainly not a situation that we like or they want to deal with after,” NASCAR SVP of Competition Scott Miller told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio back in April. “One thing about our sport, I think one of the things that I think is appealing about it is that it’s emotion-filled, it’s high adrenaline, high emotion.
“A lot of things happened there at the end of the race and some feathers got ruffled. One thing that we have definitely been firm on in the past is not running into people after the race is over — and especially not running into cars on pit road when there are bystanders around.”
Gibbs Addressed the Situation on September 27
GettyTy Gibbs issued a statement about the incident.
Following the race at Texas Motor Speedway, there were many public comments about the contact between Gibbs and Dillon, none of which came from the drivers. That situation changed after NASCAR issued its penalty report.
“I want to apologize for what happened on pit road during the race Sunday,” Gibbs tweeted on September 27. “I have to have a better understanding of the situation and my surroundings. I’m thankful no one was injured and will learn from it.”
“I talked to Ty Gibbs a lot today, and he’s not happy with a lot of that whole situation,” Trevor Bayne said during the September 26 episode of “NASCAR Race Hub.” “One is Ty Dillon getting into him and two is how he reacted.”
Bayne continued and said that Dillon and Gibbs had talked about the incident and that they had both apologized. He said that this would be “water under the bridge” for the two drivers. Though he noted that Gibbs reacting in this manner would be another growing pain for him.