Patience was running thin among the NASCAR Cup Series drivers during the playoff race at Martinsville Speedway last Sunday. Some drivers like Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, and Kyle Larson were fighting for the final two spots in the final 4. Meanwhile, there were a few who just didn’t want to give an inch to their opponents.

Interestingly, Ty Gibbs, the driver of the No. 54 Toyota, and Austin Dillon, the driver of the No. 3 RCR car, got into a tussle. The two didn’t give each other an inch to work their way up the track, and just when one of them made a pass, the other would get back by putting their race cars to good use. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was the one who witnessed the whole incident as he tailed the two race cars. And he couldn’t help but throw shades at the two drivers, who hail from strong racing backgrounds.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. mocks Austin Dillon and Ty Gibbs

There’s always this raging debate among the NASCAR circles about drivers with family influence and deep connections who can compete at the top level. Austin Dillon’s grandfather is the owner of the team RCR, which allows him to run at the highest tier of stock car racing competition. Ty Gibbs is also in a similar boat, with his grandfather Joe Gibbs fueling his racing desires at Joe Gibbs Racing.

The in-car camera showed both Dillon and Gibbs using the bump-and-run tactics on each other. The RCR driver looked to get the better of the #54, but Gibbs retaliated back and was able to get even with Dillon. Dillion didn’t appreciate the payback as he enquired this via his team radio, “What the f–k is up with the 54?” In response, Brandon Benesch, his spotter, told him, “He is throwing a temper tantrum; he’s done that to a bunch of people.”

Meanwhile, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who was tailing the two drivers, didn’t hold any punches in describing what he felt about the two drivers battling. “The golden spoons were going at it hard there.” The JTG Daugherty Racing driver said this on the team radio. We’re accustomed to hearing silver spoons, but Stenhouse Jr. took it up a notch in stating what he felt about both Dillon and Ty Gibbs competing at the Cup level.

Despite the beating and banging, the two drivers were able to come out of the incident pretty much cleanly and were able to race further. However, after shipping Ty Gibbs out of his way, Dillon used a sketchy tactic trying to defend a fellow Chevrolet driver, William Byron. And this incident made the news for all the wrong reasons.

NASCAR drops the hammer on the #3 team again

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Austin Dillon perhaps received the biggest penalty after NASCAR deemed his playoff qualification invalid after the win at Richmond. Back then, his spotter on the radio was clear in his instructions to wreck Denny Hamlin after shipping Joey Logano into the wall. However, it seems like the #3 team didn’t learn from their past mistakes and were back at flouting the rules at Martinsville Speedway.

Dillon and the Ross Chastain formed a sort of blockade in helping Byron to keep his position. Meanwhile, Christopher Bell was trying his best to gain a spot to enter the final 4. Bell did pull off a hail melon move to temporarily book his spot for the championship race. But NASCAR ruled his move as a safety violation and gave the last spot to the HMS driver.

Although the verdict on race manipulation came a little late, it showed that NASCAR won’t tolerate the OEM partnership to alter the outcome of the race. Not only the #3 team but also #1 and #23 were penalized for violating the NASCAR Member Code of Conduct. All three teams will have their spotter, crew chief, and team member ejected for the Phoenix race. Moreover, NASCAR imposed a heavy fine of $100,000 each on the driver and team owner, along with 50 docked points from the standings.

NASCAR certainly ruled with an iron fist when it came to policing the incidents that happened in Martinsville. They’ve also left the door open for banning drivers for future rulings if this sort of tactic repeats on the racetrack.