Austin Cindric Penalized for COTA Incident with Ty Dillon

Austin Cindric, driver of the No. 2 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Team Penske, has been penalized by NASCAR following an early-race incident with Ty Dillon in Sunday’s EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas (COTA).

The 26-year-old racer has been docked 50 driver points and fined $50,000 for the incident.

With the points deduction, an early-season run for Austin Cindric which placed him 11th in NASCAR Cup Series point standings, will be erased, and the Team Penske driver will be dropkicked to 34th.

On Tuesday, Brad Moran, Managing Director of the NASCAR Cup Series, said that the sanctioning body would be investigating the incident to see if Cindric did something that would require some kind of penalty.

The incident in question happened on the fourth lap of Sunday’s 95-lap contest at the Austin, Texas road course, when Ty Dillon drove through Turn 20 and pushed Cindric wide and off the racetrack.

Frustrated with the way he had been raced in the final corner, Cindric got alongside the Kaulig Racing driver on the frontstretch and turned left, right-rearing Dillon into the outside wall on the frontstretch.

There was no caution thrown for the incident, as it occurred near the tail-end of the pack. According to NASCAR’s Mike Forde, that, along with the low-speed nature of the crash led to the sanctioning body’s decision to not suspend Cindric.

Loose Wheel Costs Larson Two Crew Members

Austin Cindric and Team Penske weren’t the only teams penalized following Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series event at Circuit of The Americas (COTA).

Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, will be without two members of his pit crew for the next two NASCAR Cup Series race weekends — Phoenix and Las Vegas — after an improperly secured wheel came loose exiting Turn 6B.

Brandon Jones and Blaine Anderson have been handed a two-race suspension for the infraction and will be absent from events at Phoenix Raceway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Eric Ludwig (jackman) and Jafar Hall (front tire changer) will serve as the crew members for Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet this weekend at Phoenix Raceway. Both are Hendrick Motorsports crew members who have been assigned to Justin Haley’s No. 7 Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports.

The Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway will take place on Sunday, March 9 at 3:30 PM ET on FS1, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

-Photo credit: Jonathan McCoy, TobyChristie.com