‘Should’ve just taken Briscoe out of the playoffs,’ NASCAR Twitter reacts to Cole Custer’s penalty for race manipulation at ROVAL

Cole Custer

NASCAR has announced heavy penalties for Stewart Hass Racing driver Cole Custer for allegedly manipulating the race results in ROVAL. The No:14 pilot helped his teammate Chase Briscoe to outrace his opponents to secure the last remaining playoff spot.

Custer suddenly in Infront of the whole backstretch on the chicane on the final lap of the race. This gave Briscoe the opportunity to overtake his competitors outside and eventually and the Round of 8 spot. Several members of the NASCAR community called out the driver for manipulation and demanded a strong reaction from NASCAR.

NASCAR has announced the severe penalty for Custer under Section 5.5 of the NASCAR Rule Book. This section restricts drivers from artificially altering the race results. Cole Custer will lose 50 championship points and will have to pay a fine of 100,000 USD.

Cole Custer crew chief Michael Shiplett has also received a severe penalty for his involvement in the manipulation. Shiplett is also fined 100,000 USD and is indefinitely suspended from the pit road. NASCAR hasn’t announced any forfeit to Chae Briscoe who benefitted from the malpractice.

Also read: Desperate measures didn’t payoff off rookie Austin Cindric at ROVAL

How NASCAR Twitter reacted to the Cole Custer penalty

Fans had a mixed reaction on Twitter to the penalty. Some of them believed Custer should be punished more. Some fans called out NASCAR’s double standard when it comes to penalizing drivers on such occasions.

I don’t hate Chase or even like Coke but damn you gotta admit that’s a pretty clear double standard
— DennyHamlinNascar (@HamlinNascar) October 11, 2022

Should’ve just taken briscoe out of the playoffs at this point
— NW147 (@NW147yt) October 11, 2022

What Chase did at Bristol last year was far worse than what Custer did Sunday. If you’re gonna go there
— Cledus “Snowman” Snow (@snowman_cledus) October 11, 2022

*Elliott. And these 2 situations aren’t even similar. But cry all you want 😂.
— Matt (@MIracingfan) October 11, 2022

But the difference is, Chase made that decision. He was pissed at Harvick and therefore wanted to pay him back. And I guarantee that Larson being in second had nothing to do with that decision. The situation at Charlotte was Custer was told to hold back and let the 14 go by.
— dculp4818 (@dculp4818) October 11, 2022

“Not passing” is different than intentionally giving up positions. You can’t guarantee Jones would’ve been able to pass him even if he tried. Catching someone is one thing. Passing them is another.
— Kyle Berger (@KB_48) October 11, 2022

But his intention wasn’t to actually help the 5. His intention was to not allow the 4 to win…not because he was trying to help Larson advance but because he was pissed at the 4 for causing him to blow a tire. Custer slowed down with the intention of helping his teammate advance.
— Noah Poser (@NoahPoser) October 11, 2022

There would be no penalty, not to mention I bet other teams wouldn’t even bother if it was an HMS car doing this. Everytime a race doesn’t go Mercedes’ way in F1 they protest it. That’s what HMS does as well. Same thing. Top team, top complaining all while paying for advantage
— Tom Sears (@LurkinTomGaming) October 11, 2022

It's only a penalty when an unpopular driver does it. Welcome to the National Association for Inconsistent Auto Racing Standards!
— Jonathan Martin (@FrosteeWolf) October 11, 2022

Can’t penalize golden boy
— Kaptain デイモン (@kaptxin1) October 11, 2022

In general the act of letting your teammate have the spot on a restart is now illegal I suspect. The only thing you can do legally is wreck the competition, even if it’s under caution.
— Chris Helms (@Chris4025502) October 11, 2022

I used to be pretty into NASCAR but lately it’s getting tough.
— Marc G (@motomarc30) October 12, 2022

Because there’s a major difference between holding your line while still racing & locking your front tires up in front of two cars behind you so that your teammate can fly by them😂
— Catch Can Man (@TheCatchCanMan) October 11, 2022

Blocking isn’t illegal. Slamming the brakes and almost wrecking the field is. Harvick didn’t even get close to the 9
— Bigge Schleigh (@BiggeSchleigh) October 11, 2022

Why is this a penalty? Legit go back to Atlanta in 2021 and in both races, you will see teammates working together to get the victory. This isn’t even a Hendrick example. It’s a Chip Ganassi and Penske example.
— Jake Baskinger (@jake_spmt) October 11, 2022

This should be an easy appeal if @TonyStewart @StewartHaasRcng want to give it a shot because NASCAR has literally allowed teams to block for their teammates for 20+ years, until this week for some reason.
— Emil Borchert (@EmilBorchert) October 11, 2022

Also read: “Fans probably don’t care about team profitability,” Steve Phelps addresses NASCAR’s broken economic model

Also read: NASCAR iRacing Championship trophy renamed to honor Dale Earnhardt Jr.

#About the Author

Justin P Joy

(3658 Articles Published)

Justin P Joy is a Motorsports writer and editor at FirstSportz. He has been a motorsport journalist since 2020 and has published over 2000 articles. Justin has extensively covered two NASCAR, Formula One, and Moto GP seasons for FirstSportz. He has invested more than a decade of his life on Motorsports, first as a fan and later as a dedicated writer. Justin’s in-depth knowledge of Motorsports and his experience as a fan make his writing resonate with most racing fans worldwide. Justin's love for racing started when he discovered Moto GP at the age of 8. That love later guided him into the world of Formula 1. He fell in love with NASCAR after watching Tom Cruise’s “Days of Thunder” and has been an avid follower of the premier stock car racing series since. He has also been investing his time to exploring WEC, WRC, Formula E, Extreme E, and IndyCar in a bid to deeply understand the culture and history of Motorsports to present a unique perspective to the fans.

‘Should’ve just taken Briscoe out of the playoffs,’ NASCAR Twitter reacts to Cole Custer’s penalty for race manipulation at ROVAL

How NASCAR Twitter reacted to the Cole Custer penalty

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