NASCAR Comes Down Hard on William Byron for Ramming Denny Hamlin at Texas

NASCAR has reacted to William Byron's on-track contact with Denny Hamlin last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway with a $50,000 fine and a loss of 50 driver and owner points. Third-running Byron rammed into second-running Hamlin under caution after leader Martin Truex Jr. spun and crashed at lap 269 of the AutoTrader 500.

In this case, the loss of points is far more serious than the monetary hit. Before the penalties, Byron was third in points, behind Joey Logano and Ross Chastain. Now, he is the second driver below the eight-driver cut line, one point below Austin Cindric and eight points behind eighth-ranked Chase Briscoe.

The Cup Series is at Talladega Superspeedway this weekend before completing the Round of 12 on Oct. 9 on the Charlotte Roval.