Toby's Take: Have At It Boys... But Not Like That

On Tuesday, NASCAR issued a $50,000 fine to Zane Smith for ramming into the rear of Carson Hocevar's No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet on the cooldown lap at the conclusion of last Sunday's Freeway Insurance 500 at Phoenix Raceway. The ruling is the latest mixed signal coming from the sanctioning body.

To have at it, or to not have at it? That is the question for the boys. And to be honest, I'm not sure if I can answer that.

While we won't know the full scope of why NASCAR chose to penalize Smith for the incident until the appeals process has been fully exhausted, all we have to go off of at this time is what we've been told by NASCAR via the Hauler Talk Podcast.

According to the Hauler Talk Podcast, Smith was heavily fined for his post-race contact with Hocevar because NASCAR sat both Smith and Hocevar down after an incident between the two drivers at Chicagoland Speedway. In this meeting, NASCAR's Mike Forde says both drivers were warned to figure out their differences, or NASCAR would step in an figure it out for them.

That seems to be what the $50,000 fine ultimately was. NASCAR figuring this out for Smith and Hocevar.

On the surface, it makes sense that the sanctioning body would make good on its threat to the drivers, but Chicagoland Speedway was 15 races ago. That's nearly half a season since the last run-in between Hocevar and Smith. How long are they expected to put aside their rivalry? The rest of the season? The rest of their careers? I thought in this new NASCAR "Hell Yeah" era that we wanted rivalries and passion, again?

If someone thinks ramming into a competitor on the cooldown lap is going to result in a $50,000 fine, I doubt they'll keep showcasing that level of passion in the post-race proceedings.

But the timing of the penalty is optically horrible for NASCAR, as the penalty comes a week after Michael McDowell and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. were involved in a post-race pissing match at Charlotte Motor Speedway. In that post-race altercation, both drivers made contact with each other multiple times on the cooldown lap, and it escalated with McDowell spinning Stenhouse out in Turn 3 of the 1.5-mile speedway.

Neither McDowell or Stenhouse were fined for their actions.

So, now we have an amazingly gray area when it comes to confrontations between drivers on track. Is it okay? Or is it not? Well, it would seem if it's a new feud, it's okay. If it's an existing one, not so much.

However, we saw another instance of an old rivalry renewed during Sunday's race at Phoenix, and nothing was done to either driver involved in that situation.

Back at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Riley Herbst was crashed out of the race by Michael McDowell, an impact that caused Herbst to incur a concussion, which would result in the 23XI Racing driver being ruled out for the next week's event at Daytona International Speedway.

Fast forward to the early laps of Sunday's race at Phoenix, and McDowell made slight contact with Herbst. This seemingly enraged Herbst, who then crashed McDowell in Turn 3, and in turn also crashed his own car in the process. The crash seemed pretty intentional. Yet, on Tuesday, there was no penalty.

Why not? I guess the boys are allowed to have at it?

But if so, why was Smith penalized for bumping into Hocevar on a cooldown lap?

I have tried so hard to make it make sense in my own head, and I guess I could somewhat accept that NASCAR chose to penalize Smith for ramming Hocevar at roughly 120 mph in post-race, a seemingly excessive speed. But at this point, NASCAR hasn't indicated that as a reason for the penalty. At least, not publicly.

Unless some details are missing, I simply can't make sense of it.

And for those who are going to go back to the argument of the sanctioning body warning Smith and Hocevar after Chicagoland Speedway to cut it out, I want to remind you that it was 15 races ago, and in the 15 races since that run-in, the sanctioning body has seemingly reversed course in how it rules upon in-race and post-race incidents.

Prior to Chicagoland Speedway, drivers were penalized for intentionally crashing others on track.

Ryan Preece was docked points and fined for "not cutting a break" to Ty Gibbs at Texas Motor Speedway in May. That penalty nearly kept Preece from making the Chase. Had it not been for a miraculous win at Daytona with his back against the wall in the regular season finale, Preece would have missed out on The Chase.

However, Herbst in a similar situation in Sunday's race at Phoenix, recieved no such penalty.

Ditto with the post-race actions from McDowell and Stenhouse last week at Charlotte. So, it almost seems like Smith and Hocevar were placed on some sort of secret probation during their meeting with NASCAR officials in the hauler. Although that also can't quite be the case, either.

Hocevar, if you recall, was involved in a post-race fistfight with Ryan Blaney after the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Not only was Hocevar not fined, but the passion displayed in the post-race scuffle was also praised by Steve O'Donnell, NASCAR's CEO.

“If drivers are going to handle their own business, the way we looked at that, how it played out, we’re not going to encourage fighting, but what we are going to encourage is passion, right? And those are two guys — Blaney’s showing his passion, showing his fire," NASCAR CEO Steve O'Donnell said in an interview on Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour Podcast. "So no, there’s nothing coming from us in terms of [penalties]. We’ll obviously watch what happens the rest of the way, but nothing in terms of post-race penalties.”

Prior to the Hocevar/Blaney fight, drivers had been fined $75,000 for post-race punches. But, apparently, fighting is allowed again.

Preece was penalized for intentionally crashing a competitor at Texas, but apparently, that is allowed again.

McDowell and Stenhouse weren't penalized for their post-race shenanigans at Charlotte Motor Speedway, so apparently post-race on-track skirmishes are allowed again.

Unless it involves Smith, I guess?