Austin Cindric’s right-hook to Ty Dillon cost Kaulig Racing $100,000+ in damages, says Chris Rice

Chris Rice, the president of Kaulig Racing has revealed the cost to the team (upwards of $100,000) after the retaliatory action by Austin Cindric. The incident occurred at the Circuit of the Americas on March 2.

At the Circuit of the Americas Lap 4, Ty Dillon nudged the Team Penske driver Cindric. This led to a retaliatory action by Cindric where he hooked the Kaulig Racing driver in the right rear on the front stretch, causing him to spin into the wall. This caused heavy damage to Dillon’s car but also led to Cindric being docked 50 driver points (causing him to fall from 11th to 34th in the standings) and a $50,000 fine.

Rice spoke about the cost of fixing the car after the retaliatory shot by Cindric. He spoke to SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Thursday.

"Front clip, upright on the right front nose, bumper, hood, right front fender, five to eight positions in the race, whatever points that is, I mean, I could keep going deeper and deeper when you look it. If you go back and watch it, he did hit the wall on the straightaway with the right front," the Kaulig Racing president was quoted as saying by Sportsnaut.

"He goes down into Turn 1 and the right front wouldn’t turn. So they went a lap down fixing it. It took two whole stages to get that lap back and get back through the field. Its going to be six figures for sure by time we fix it and now it’s out of service and things like that. And I’m not saying it couldn’t have happened any other time, but for that wreck, that’s what it cost," he added

Though Rice was hoping for a bigger fine or a suspension for the Team Penske driver, he backed the decision as it was consistent with the incident involving Carson Hocevar at the Nashville Superspeedway where he intentionally wrecked Harrison Burton by hooking him in the right rear under caution.

“At the end of the day, NASCAR did what they thought they needed to do,” Rice said. “And I think it was in line with what they did with Hocevar under caution (at Nashville.)," he continued.

Cindric is often seen as a rising star contracted to drive the #2 for the established Team Penske. In 2022, he became the ninth driver in history to win his first Cup Series race at the Daytona 500 at 23 (he became the second youngest winner of the event). In 2024, the Team Penske driver made a playoff appearance and a win at the World Wide Technology Raceway.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. shell-shocked by NASCAR’s $50,000 Austin Cindric verdict

On his podcast, Dale Earnhardt Jr. questioned the rationale behind the ruling, suggesting that Cindric's punishment was too lenient compared to previous penalties handed down to other drivers for similar infractions. On his podcast, Dale Jr. Download, he said:

" I don't believe NASCAR would go, 'Hey man, we don't want to. We've got a rule to suspend on the right hook, and we're not going to do it because we don't want the guy to feel the brunt of the penalty? What's the point of the penalty?"

"They feel like, in their words, it wasn't that severe because other cars didn't run into them. So because they were going slower, because there wasn't a big crash, it didn't cause a yellow. That's the way NASCAR views these things. I don't agree with it," he continued.

Earnhardt Jr. noted that other prominent drivers, including Chase Elliott and Bubba Wallace, have faced suspensions for right-hooking incidents, which adds to the perplexity surrounding Cindric's case.