Elton Sawyer, NASCAR’s Vice President of Competition, confirmed to members of the media on Tuesday that Corey LaJoie would not be penalized for his contact with Kyle Busch late in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series event at Pocono Raceway.
The incident in question occurred on a restart with 40 laps remaining, when LaJoie turned directly into the left-rear quarter panel of Busch, just seconds after the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion had thrown a major block, which resulted in bumper-to-bumper contact.
After the second instance of contact, Busch was turned down to the inside of the racetrack, before his No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro came back up the racetrack at a high rate of speed, ending the afternoon for not just himself, but also three other drivers.
It was the radio communication between the Spire Motorsports team after the accident, though, that left many questioning whether or not the contact was truly innocuous on the part of LaJoie, including crew members saying “He hooked himself,” and “You let him have it the first time, the second time he got what he deserved”.
Sawyer, who competed in the NASCAR Busch Series from 1983 to 2002, set the record straight on behalf of NASCAR on Tuesday, providing some insight on how the sanctioning body decided to not penalize LaJoie for his actions on Sunday.
“This past weekend, we’re in-race, we’re in competition. You got two guys racing hard. You listen to the in-car audio on the No. 7 [LaJoie] and you don’t hear anything from the driver,” Sawyer said on Tuesday. “There are some comments by the crew chief and spotter, but neither one of them is driving the car. I’ve had those guys in my ear before, and they’re not driving.”
In the meantime, Sawyer says that NASCAR is planning to have a conversation with Corey LaJoie to “make sure he’s in a good place”, but says overall, the sanctioning body is taking the position of letting guys race in situations like this — under the green-flag.
Over the last couple of weeks, though, NASCAR has been quick to penalize drivers for unnecessary contact when the race isn’t under green-flag conditions.
After Nashville, NASCAR penalized Carson Hocevar 25 points and $50,000 for making contact under caution with Harrison Burton. Just one week later, the sanctioning body issued a $50,000 fine to Bubba Wallace for making contact with Alex Bowman on the cooldown lap.
By diverting from a penalty to LaJoie after Pocono, the sanctioning body avoids levying a major penalty on a NASCAR Cup Series driver for a third straight week.
