“They are completely different”: NASCAR’s Elton Sawyer draws a line between Chase Elliott and Bubba Wallace’s Chicago incidents

NASCAR has decided not to penalize Corey LaJoie for his role in the crash that wrecked Kyle Busch at Pocono Raceway. Elton Sawyer, senior vice president of competition, has explained why.

The decision followed a recent incident where Bubba Wallace received a hefty penalty of $50,000 for nudging Alex Bowman during the cool-down lap of the Chicago Street race, contrasting with Chase Elliott's similar move on Daniel Suarez that went unpunished.

During the race at Pocono, on the Lap 121 restart, LaJoie attempted to pass on the inside of the front stretch. Busch then moved down to block, leading to LaJoie making contact with the left rear of Busch’s car. The contact caused Kyle Busch’s car to spin, triggering a multi-car crash that ended the race for three drivers.

Following the incident, LaJoie mentioned on his podcast "Stacking Pennies" that he had reached out to Busch via text but hadn't heard back at the time of recording. He believes Kyle Busch hit the rev limiter chip which slowed his momentum right before their collision.

While the officials have decided not to penalize LaJoie, they do plan to have a discussion with him. The decision sparked debate among fans, who accused NASCAR of inconsistency citing the lack of penalties for Chase Elliott and LaJoie while Bubba Wallace was fined. Elton Sawyer addressed these concerns by explaining the difference in circumstances (via Racer):

"Two completely different scenarios. We had a conversation with Chase about it, the race is over, so we’ve completed the event. Both of these scenarios are post-checkered flag and Chase accelerates to get up to (Daniel Suarez). We’ve seen that for many, many years, drivers showing their displeasure when the race is over,"

"We reviewed in-car cameras, looked at all the footage, audio and [there was] very slight contact. And that rises to a level where we don’t really want to be in the middle of any of that. That’s how we made a decision on that one... They are completely different."

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Fans expressed their displeasure with NASCAR's decision

SiriusXM NASCAR radio shared Elton Sawyer's statement on X:

Fans quickly filled the comments section with their discontent:

"Bruh, Nascar officials has become more inconsistent the last few months about the penalties issue topic."

"If Kyle wrecks Corey this weekend, there better not be a penalty," another said.

"I like Corey, but from the radio conversation, that was at least 80% intentional," one commented.

"The inconsistency of penalties in nascar is unparalleled in sports as best I can tell. Absolutely wild," yet another wrote.

"Layne Riggs should take NASCAR to court for being the only one to get penalized on all this shit," this fan opined.