NASCAR will further examine an early incident at Circuit of the Americas involving Team Penske's Austin Cindric and Kaulig Racing's Ty Dillon and determine if it warrants a penalty.
The two drivers were racing hard on Lap 4 of Sunday's Cup Series race. Dillon ran Cindric wide in Turn 20, which led to the Team Penske driver going into the runoff area grass. Cindric then appeared to hook Dillon into the frontstretch wall.
The No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet sustained damage on the right side. Front Row Motorsports driver Zane Smith, an innocent bystander, also saw his No. 38 Ford get some damage after colliding with Dillon's No. 10.
"Yeah, unfortunately, that happened early on in the race, so there was not a caution at that point for it," Brad Moran, Cup Series Managing Director, said during a Tuesday appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
"But we are going to go back, and that's on our list today, so we'll have a look at that and see if there was something there that we do not like, and if there is, we'll have to deal with it."
We are four laps in and payback has already happened. Things are wild in Texas today. 👀 pic.twitter.com/MxqWlpbsHU
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) March 2, 2025
If there is a penalty for this incident, NASCAR will announce it in its weekly report. The penalty report is usually released on Tuesday or Wednesday evening.
NASCAR has penalized drivers in the past if it determined the hook was intentional. Bubba Wallace and Chase Elliott each received one-race suspensions in the Gen 7 era for hooking competitors into the outside wall at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway, respectively.
However, these incidents took place at high-speed intermediate tracks. The drivers involved -- Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin -- were unable to continue in the races after their cars sustained significant damage.
The incident at Circuit of the Americas occurred at much lower speeds.
The damage did not send Dillon to the garage, but he and the No. 10 team spent the rest of the day trying to make any repairs that were possible and get back on the lead lap. Dillon ended stage 1 in 37th place, stage 2 in 29th place, and the race in 28th place.
"A frustrating day," Dillon said, per Kaulig Racing. "We made a pass and got hooked on Lap 4. That destroyed the whole right front of our car.
"We battled back from that all day; we just didn't have the downforce we needed without a right front on it. We did all we could with our Sea Best Chevy."