Inconsistency Of NASCAR Officiating Of Modified Tour Events Should Raise Red Flag For All Competitors 

(The article below is a RaceDayCT column – The views expressed in this column are solely the opinion of the writer)

A weekend NASCAR Modified Tour doubleheader at Monadnock Speedway proved to be the source of two dramatic finishes but also plenty of feisty storylines from the track. 

One of the storylines that garnered plenty of attention was the dustup on lap 120 between Stephen Kopcik and Sam Rameau during Sunday’s Cheshire County Clash at Monadnock Speedway. 

That incident ended with Kopcik’s right front twisted up after hard contact with the outside wall coming off of turn two. 

No matter what anyone thinks of the players involved in this incident, or just how it went down, the inconsistency of NASCAR’s officiating must be called out following the event. The incident raises the question: Is NASCAR making different calls for different people on the track during Modified Tour events. 

As far as the actual incident between Kopcik and Rameau, it looked like something that started as a racing incident that ended as being something slightly over the line from a racing incident. 

Before things went bad in turns one and two between the two drivers, there had been previous contact between the two. Then going into turn one it seemed very clear that initially Kopcik pinched Rameau down after Rameau filled a hole in the low lane left open by Kopcik. 

That was followed up by hard contact between the right front of Rameau and the left front of Kopcik, that looked on the replay like a hard racing incident that would happen when one driver is making a pass low and the driver on the outside is trying to pinch that driver down to stop their momentum. 

And then after that hard contact, you suddenly have Justin Bonsignore behind the two looking to fill the hole in the low lane under both of them as they’re coming off of turn four. You have a three-wide scenario where the two cars in the middle lane and the high lane are essentially glued to each other and have already made contact. The end result is hardly surprising and just did not look intentional. You’re three-wide on a bullring and the guy on the outside ends up in the wall? That happens every week somewhere at a race track in America and it’s not done intentionally. 

Where things get really murky is how the incident was officiated by NASCAR. 

Rameau was penalized two laps for the incident. After the penalty was announced the Rameau team decided to call it a day and Rameau went to the pits and parked the car. You can’t blame the team for deciding to park it. There would have been about 70 laps left when the race would go back to green. A two-lap penalty on a quarter-mile bullring with 70-laps left for a team that isn’t running for points basically means the day is over and the only rational decision is to park the car. They probably were never going to get one lap back, much less getting two back to even get back on the lead lap. 

The question is, where is the consistency when it comes to officiating? And was the severity of the Rameau penalty on Sunday based on the incident on the track or based on Rameau’s past history that has nothing to do with the NASCAR Modified Tour. 

As far as consistency of officiating goes, on May 18 the NASCAR Modified Tour competed at North Wilkesboro Speedway. About 100 laps into that event, Tyler Rypkema used a bump and run move on Kopcik to pass him in turn three. Kopcik retaliated a half a lap later by clearly intentionally ramming Rypkema from behind on entry into turn one. Rypkema ended up going hard into the turn one wall and Kopcik drove away from the incident unscathed. 

Kopcik’s penalty from NASCAR for the incident was dropping him to the tail end of the lead lap. At that point there were 13 cars on the lead lap of the event at North Wilkesboro. Kopcik, who was running fifth, was essentially penalized eight spots in the running order for intentionally ending another competitor’s day who was running in the top-five. Kopcik ended up rallying to finish sixth at North Wilkesboro while Rypkema’s Boehler Racing Enterprises team loaded a destroyed car back in the hauler for the ride back to the Northeast. 

So after seeing what happened Sunday at Monadnock, you have to ask, is there any basis for consistency in officiating penalties by NASCAR during NASCAR Modified Tour events? 

Judging by what happened at North Wilkesboro vs. what happened at Monadnock, it’s fair to say there’s zero consistency whatsoever in how penalty calls are made by NASCAR officials in Modified Tour events. 

Anyone who has been around racing for any length of time could see that what Kopcik did to Rypkema at North Wilkesboro was done intentionally. Stevie Wonder could have seen it was done intentionally. And based on that, you have to surmise that NASCAR’s officials that day could easily see it was done intentionally.

And their decision after seeing someone wrecked intentionally was to penalize Kopcik eight spots on the race track. No one-lap penalty, no two-lap penalty, no getting parked for the day. Eight spots on the track for intentionally wrecking another competitor, and Kopcik came back to finish in essentially the same place he was in the running order when he intentionally ended Rypkema’s day. 

So take Kopcik and Rameau out of the equation and simply look at things from a competitor’s standpoint globally with the series. Competitors should have some understanding going into an event of the baselines for how actions on the track will be officiated. 

What Sunday proved is there is no baseline. Watching what took place Sunday, there’s no way for NASCAR officials to conclusively determine that Rameau intentionally wrecked Kopcik. There’s just not enough evidence there in the moment to determine that and then make a call that officials know essentially ends the day for the penalized party involved. 

So the question is how does one incident – where it’s absolutely clear that someone intentionally wrecked another driver – earn an eight spots in the running order penalty and another incident where it’s inconclusive if there was intentional action to wreck another driver earns a two-lap penalty which essentially ends the penalized driver’s day? 

Is Stephen Kopcik the new golden boy of NASCAR Modified Tour series director Jimmy Wilson? He can get away with wrecking drivers intentionally with just a slap on the wrist, but anyone getting involved with him will suffer the wrath of officials? It might sound a little outlandish, but look at the body of work very simply spelled out here in one incident vs. another incident seven races apart on the schedule. Did NASCAR change how they’re officiating and penalizing racers from May to July? 

What’s more concerning is the question of whether or not the harshness of the penalty Rameau was subjected to was about the incident that took place in that moment Sunday or based on something that happened years ago in one event that wasn’t even sanctioned by NASCAR? 

Because if the extreme measure taken Sunday was based on perceived reputation rather than the details of the incident that took place in the race, then NASCAR is setting a very slippery slope precedent going forward that for every event the series runs there will be different rules for different people on the track based on who the driver is, not what the driver did.