RFK Racing will appeal the penalty given to Ryan Preece following Texas. NASCAR penalized Preece for intentionally wrecking Ty Gibbs in retaliation for an earlier moment on the track during the Wurth 400.
Ryan Preece was fined $50,000 and had a 25-point penalty tacked onto that as well. There was some radio chatter with Preece and his No. 60 team before he got into it with Gibbs. He essentially said he was going to get payback on the 54 when he got back to him. Then again, you hear that all the time in a NASCAR race.
Teams are given a window to appeal penalties after races. RFK Racing has chosen to take that route. It isn’t often that penalties are overturned on appeal. A three member panel of the National Motorsports Appeals Panel, an independent panel made up of race industry members, will oversee the appeals process.
Ryan Preece gets emotional in victory lane while doing post-race interview at Bowman Gray. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)
“RFK Racing has decided to appeal the penalties issued by NASCAR against Ryan Preece,” the team posted on social media. “We appreciate the opportunity to share our findings with the National Motorsports Appeals Panel at the appropriate time. Additionally, our organization respectfully embraces the forum provided by NASCAR to present our case.”
The 25 point penalty is the biggest deal here. It isn’t a wonder why RFK Racing would want to at least try and appeal this penalty. Get those points back and keep running well and remain in Chase contention. That’s the plan, as well as snagging a win or two between now and Homestead-Miami Speedway in November.
It can’t feel good to see Ryan Preece get the penalty when Kyle Busch walked away without even a warning it seems. Busch got into it with John Hunter Nemechek with two laps to go at Texas. He felt Nemechek was running too far down the track and he hit the 42 when trying to clear on the backstretch. Then Busch appeared to knock Nemechek into the wall in Turns 3 and 4.
Even after Busch posted about wrecking Nemechek and why he did what he did on social media, NASCAR decided not to hand out a penalty. Nothing can be done about that now, but Preece and RFK Racing are hoping they can at least get some points back on review.
This will go to the appeals panel, RFK will argue their side. Then the panel will decide whether to leave the penalty as is, wipe it away, or modify it in some form or fashion. If Preece gets his 25 points back, he would move up one spot to 12th in the standings with 298 points. That would put him only 10 points out of 10th place, which is currently William Byron.
This story was originally published by Athlon Sports on May 7, 2026, where it first appeared in the Racing section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
