Should NASCAR Penalize Aggressive Driving During Races More Often?

In the wake of Corey LaJoie tangling with Kyle Busch at Pocono Raceway in the NASCAR Cup Series, should NASCAR implement more in-race penalties for aggressive driving?

Luken Glover: Absolutely. No matter what Corey LaJoie and his team said about how the incident occurred, it was unacceptable. There have been several instances where aggressive driving between two drivers ends up involving more than bargained for. You have at-track crew members, shop crew members, sponsors and more who are all involved in a car being on track. When an innocent bystander is wrapped up in someone else’s mess, which ended up being seven total as a result of the LaJoie-Kyle Busch contact, it casts an even larger shadow on the whole deal. Let’s also remember Layne Riggs was held two laps for reckless driving at Nashville Superspeedway in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, and while we don’t need an extreme amount of policing, this is another area that needs more consistency.

Wyatt Watson: Most of the time in the lower series, NASCAR wastes no time dishing out penalties for reckless driving and parking drivers for two laps when deemed necessary. Why NASCAR isn’t doing it in the Cup Series is beyond me. It decided to wait to penalize Carson Hocevar until the week after his offending race, and LaJoie got away scot-free after clearing not lifting Busch’s back bumper into turn 1 at Pocono — Pocono, of all places! LaJoie should have been penalized for what he did. A shove doesn’t get any more egregious or intentional than that.

Mike Neff: The current in-race penalties for rough driving are sufficient. The incident between Busch and LaJoie was a racing deal. Busch made an aggressive block. LaJoie had to get back up to a reasonable angle to make the corner. You had two people who were at a point in the race when they weren’t in the mood to give. The result was a wreck. It wasn’t aggressive driving, it was hard racing.

Samuel Stubbs: As much as I love the boys-have-at-it mantra, you can’t let any driver — especially a repeat offender like LaJoie — cause a crash like the one we saw Sunday without any semblance of repercussions. Hold the driver for one lap and pay Mike Helton to yell at them in the NASCAR hauler post-race.

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