NASCAR official explains Austin Cindric penalty after Ally 400 backlash

A NASCAR official has explained the controversial decision to award Austin Cindric a penalty after an incident during the red flag in Sunday's Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway.

After 136 laps of the scheduled 300, the weather forced a delay in Tennessee, and before things could get going again, Cindric had been slapped with a penalty by the race officials.

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It transpired that the No. 2 Team Penske Ford driver was deemed to have had a fan blowing on his car during the delay and therefore not have followed NASCAR's directives.

For his punishment, when the race eventually got back underway, Cindric was forced to the tail end of the field for the restart.

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Race Director explains Austin Cindric penalty

It was a controversial decision, with spectators on social media criticising NASCAR as a result of the penalty.

However, speaking on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Nascar Cup Series managing director Brad Moran doubled down on the penalty verdict: "Teams are responsible to listen to race control during the entire event and there were instructions going out for 52 minutes of that hold on certain things we needed on pit road,"

"What finally did it was they had a fan there - and others had fans blowing on certain parts of their pit box.

"The fan we deemed blowing at the front of the car, which again, we all know that's not what we want and that's what he went to the rear for. That's extra cooling going to the engine."

Despite the penalty, having been sent to the back of the order, the Team Penske driver ultimately finished the race in 15th position.

NASCAR next heads for the Chicago Street Course this weekend, with the Grant Park 165 set to take place on Sunday, July 7th.

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