NASCAR has issued a penalty to Team Penske's Austin Cindric for his actions at Circuit of the Americas last weekend.
According to the penalty report, Cindric violated the NASCAR Rule Book Sections 4.4 B&D: NASCAR Member Code of Conduct when he spun Ty Dillon into the wall on Lap 4 of the Cup Series race.
As a result, he received a $50,000 fine. NASCAR also took away 50 driver points from Cindric, which drops him from 11th in the Cup Series standings to outside the top 30.
The incident occurred after Dillon ran Cindric wide in Turn 20, forcing him off the track and partially into the grass. Cindric retaliated by hooking Dillon's No. 10 in the right rear, which sent it spinning into the wall. This incident did not bring out a caution.
Past penalties for right-rear hooks have included one-race suspensions. Bubba Wallace was suspended in 2022 after hooking Kyle Larson into the outside wall at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Chase Elliott was suspended in 2023 after hooking Denny Hamlin into the outside wall at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Mike Forde, NASCAR managing director of racing communications, provided more information about Cindric's penalty during an episode of the "Hauler Talk" podcast. As he explained, this incident occurred on a road course with lower speeds and tighter confines. The Wallace and Elliott incidents were on intermediate tracks with higher speeds.
The penalties issued to Cindric partially match those issued to then-rookie driver Carson Hocevar last season. Hocevar intentionally hooked Harrison Burton in the right rear last season at Nashville Superspeedway. This incident occurred under caution.
NASCAR fined Hocevar $50,000 for intentionally wrecking Burton. However, the sanctioning body only took away 25 driver points.
The penalty report also confirmed that two members of Kyle Larson's team will miss the next two Cup Series races while serving a suspension. Jackman Brandon Johnson and front tire changer Blaine Anderson will be out of the lineup until the trip to Homestead-Miami Speedway due to the No. 5 Chevrolet losing a wheel on the racing surface last weekend at COTA.