Last year, when NASCAR handed Bubba Wallace a one-race suspension for his incident with Kyle Larson at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the 23XI Racing driver had emphasized that this penalty should become a precedent, which it did. Recently, Chase Elliott did something similar to Denny Hamlin and got penalized with a one-race suspension.
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But perhaps this penalty of suspending drivers for one race whenever they intentionally right-rear hook another driver isn’t harsh enough as per Wallace’s spotter, Freddie Kraft.
The spotter argued in a recent episode of the Door Bumper Clear podcast that NASCAR needs to introduce stricter penalties in incidents such as the recent Elliott-Hamlin, especially when they’re compared to a penalty given to the #14 team of Stewart Haas Racing.
Spotter of Bubba Wallace on the unfair penalties in NASCAR
Kraft claimed that while NASCAR have set the precedent with Wallace and Elliott penalties, it simply isn’t enough or fair. “We need stiffer penalties for this because you see Chase Briscoe gets hammered with a penalty for an illegal part,” the spotter argued.
“He loses 25 playoff points, 125 driver-owner points, they give him a $250,000 fine and Chase Elliott gets a week off for quote-unquote by Steve O’Donnell, ‘intentionally putting other drivers at harm,’” he continued. “How can Chase Briscoe’s penalty be so much stiffer than Chase Elliott’s?”
As per Wallace’s spotter, NASCAR could experiment by taking the win eligibility away or removing certain playoff points, or even, the offenders be given a suspension from the first race of the playoffs. “Because now you’re not adjusting anything that you earned previously, you’re still in the playoffs. But now you’ve made it a lot harder for yourself to transfer out of that first round,” he claimed.
“Because there has to be something that hurts these guys.”
Freddie Kraft claims Chase Elliott probably gained more than lost after his penalty
The spotter went on to further his point of NASCAR needing stricter measures by claiming that Elliott didn’t lose all that much after his one-race suspension. In fact, it very well could be the opposite, which is true.
“Chase Elliott did not lose anything, in fact, it probably looks better that somebody else got his car and ran 30th all day long,” Kraft said.
He also emphasized that while a one-race suspension is pretty clear for right-hooking another driver, NASCAR needs something “to hurt” the drivers who do that.
“I think they need to get a step further because like I said, Bubba’s suspension didn’t deter Chase. Now Chase and Bubba’s suspension obviously didn’t deter Cindric,” he described. “So now we have to go another step further somewhere and figure out what that penalty is.”
Having said that, Kraft admitted he doesn’t know what that penalty is but whatever NASCAR currently has, it is not stopping drivers from continuing to right-hook other drivers, something which he thinks is absolutely unacceptable.
