NASCAR punishes Byron and Gibbs for Texas incidents

William Byron and Ty Gibbs were fined and stripped of championship points for their actions Sunday night at Texas Motor Speedway in a NASCAR Cup Series race.

Byron was fined $50,000 and given 25 driver and owner points for spinning Denny Hamlin with a warning. The Hendrick Motorsports driver was upset with Hamlin for going with him earlier in Turn 2, causing Byron to hit the wall.

When the caution came out with 73 laps to go, Byron, running third, failed to brake in Turn 4 and drove right into the back of Hamlin. Hamlin was running second, came back through the grass and lost his track position as NASCAR officials did not give him his seat back.

Byron was not penalized during the race. He later admitted he was “pissed off” but insisted Hamlin’s spin was unintentional.

The points count dropped Byron from third on the Cup Playoff Series grid with a 17-point lead at the 10-yard line. Byron is now 10th in the playoff standings and eight points out of a transfer spot at Talladega Superspeedway (Sunday, 2 p.m. ET, NBC).

Gibbs was fined $75,000 for slamming Ty Dillon’s door on pit road. Dylan stepped out of his stall and into Gibbs’ path and the two made contact. In response, Gibbs swerved to the left and crashed into the side of Dylan’s car.

In addition, 23XI Racing received 25 owners’ points.

In its penalty report, NASCAR noted that “contact by a responding vehicle on pit road with crew members/officials in the immediate vicinity; the second crime.”

Since July, Gibbs has been filling in for the injured Kurt Busch. The penalty does not affect his standing in the Xfinity Series, where he is a regular championship contender.