RFK Racing to appeal NASCAR's penalties against Ryan Preece at Texas

RFK Racing is fighting back against the penalties issued by NASCAR against Ryan Preece. On Thursday, the racing team announced it plans to appeal the penalties on Preece after an incident with Ty Gibbs at Texas Motor Speedway.

“We appreciate the opportunity to share our findings with the National Motorsports Appeals Panel at the appropriate time,” RFK said. “Additionally, our organization respectfully embraces the four provided by NASCAR to present our case.”

On Tuesday, Ryan Preece was penalized 25 points and fined $50,000 following an incident with Gibbs. Preece, the driver of the No. 60 car, was penalized under Sections 4.3 and 4.4.A in the NASCAR Rule Book, which states NASCAR’s member conduct guidelines and specifically lists “wrecking or spinning another vehicle, whether or not that vehicle is removed from competition as a result” as a potentially punishable offense, per NASCAR.com.

During the race, it appeared that Preece appeared to hit the back bumper of Gibbs’ No. 54 Toyota at Lap 101. The move sent Gibbs into the barrier, and it ended his day with a P36 finish. This came after Preece voiced his frustration with Gibbs.

Ryan Preece explains the incident with Ty Gibbs

“All right, when I get to that 54, I’m done with him. [Expletive] idiot,” Preece said. Preece then appeared on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Monday night and shared what happened with Gibbs.

“There are people that you know you can race with respect around and cut breaks to,” Preece said. “Like, I can think of multiple times yesterday that instead of putting another driver in a pretty tough spot, you make the decision not to do that. And I feel like I just grew up racing against people that I learned that lesson a long, long time ago, when I was a lot younger. And sometimes I question if those same lessons are learned by the time you get to Cup.

“So for me, it was more along the lines of he pretty much was very close to 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. 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.”

Due to the 25-point penalty, Preece dropped from 12th to 13th in the standings. Through 11 races this year, Preece has finished inside the top 20 10 times and has also recorded two top-10 finishes.