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NASCAR Cup Series managing director Brad Moran confirmed on Wednesday that the sanctioning body found insufficient evidence to issue penalties for on-track incidents involving Shane Van Gisbergen, Austin Hill, Zane Smith, and Carson Hocevar during the recent race at Chicagoland Speedway. The decision, detailed on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio’s "The Morning Drive," follows a comprehensive review of telemetry, radio communications, and race footage.
The most contentious incident occurred on Lap 48 when Austin Hill’s No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet was spun into the wall by Van Gisbergen’s No. 91 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet. The RCR team immediately expressed suspicion of intentional retaliation. This incident followed a prior event two weeks earlier at another circuit, where Van Gisbergen, who was leading at the time, was spun by Hill, triggering a multi-car pileup.
On the TNT Sports broadcast following the Chicagoland event, the broadcast team, including former Cup Series driver Jamie McMurray, analyzed SMT (SportsMEDIA Technology) data and concluded that the contact between Van Gisbergen and Hill appeared intentional. However, Van Gisbergen himself did not admit to any deliberate intent over his team radio, a crucial factor in NASCAR’s investigative process.
Moran elaborated on the meticulous nature of NASCAR’s review process. "Well, we looked at it very closely," Moran stated. "We pulled everything up on Tuesday like we always do. We actually had remote race control starting on that basically right after the incident happened. But we conducted our comprehensive review like we always do."
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He emphasized the depth of the investigation, which included "everything from telemetry to radio communication, all vintage footage, race data, everything we have before we get in the middle of what really happened inside the race car." Ultimately, Moran concluded, "And there just wasn’t enough evidence there to say the incident was intentional, nor was there enough to do the same to (Zane Smith and Carson Hocevar.)"
The review also encompassed an incident between Zane Smith and Carson Hocevar, where Hocevar’s car spun after contact with Smith’s front end. In real-time observation, it appeared Smith may have maintained his racing line without significantly lifting to avoid the collision. Moran confirmed, "They were both looked at and reviewed yesterday and determined there will be no penalties issued. However, we’ll be talking to both groups and making it pretty clear what we need." NASCAR plans to engage with both driver pairings on Saturday to facilitate de-escalation of any lingering tensions.
This decision contrasts with a previous penalty issued to Ryan Preece earlier in the summer. Preece was fined $50,000 and docked 25 championship points for contact with Ty Gibbs at Texas Motor Speedway, which sent Gibbs into the wall. While visually similar to the Van Gisbergen-Hill incident, Moran highlighted a key differentiator: Preece’s explicit radio communications.
Preece’s post-incident radio transmission included, "All right, when I get to that 54, I’m done with him. Fucking idiot." Further explaining his actions on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio the following day, Preece stated, "For me it was more along the lines of he almost, or pretty much, was very close clear getting into (Turn) 3. And I could lift. But I didn’t. I was right there and I felt like he came down and I was not going to cut him a break because in the past him and I have had problems." He added, "So I’ve got a little bit of a short fuse with him and I with how we’re racing. And that was just one of those situations that – could I cut him a break? Probably could have. But I didn’t."
The penalty against Preece was upheld on appeal, with the appeals panel noting that while neither NASCAR nor Preece presented their arguments with exceptional strength, the decision was upheld on the basis that Preece "didn’t cut a competitor ‘a break.’"
Moran acknowledged the visual similarities between the Preece and Van Gisbergen incidents but underscored the decisive role of radio communication. "When we did our review of that incident, we had data that we felt it was intentional," Moran explained, referring to the Preece case. "We had different radio communication that led us down that direction. So we take everything together and that’s why that penalty was issued – so not saying it couldn’t have happened here."
He further articulated NASCAR’s officiating philosophy: "We try not to get in the middle. We don’t want to over-officiate. And we like aggressive driving. We like good hard racing. That’s what we do. That’s how we sell the stadiums out and that’s our plan. However, we do have to get into the middle of it occasionally and we don’t choose to do that. So the exact same procedure was done, just came out with a different outcome and that was due to the facts that were surrounding around the incident."
Additionally, NASCAR decided against penalizing Austin Hill for contact with Van Gisbergen’s car under the subsequent caution period. Moran classified this action as not having "crossed a line." This decision also draws a distinction from a previous penalty issued to Bubba Wallace after the Chicago street race last year. Wallace received a penalty for a door slam on Alex Bowman during the cool-down lap, an incident where Bowman had already begun loosening his safety equipment, indicating a different context and severity.
The incidents at Chicagoland highlight NASCAR’s ongoing challenge in balancing the allowance of aggressive racing with the need to maintain order and ensure driver safety, relying heavily on a combination of real-time observation, telemetry data, and driver communications to inform their officiating decisions.
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