Ultimately, the only penalty that will come from the incident is a one-race probation to Thomas, including all NFRN Elite Cup Series races he may qualify for until the next NACS race, but how the league came to this conclusion is complex, according to Kris Neuert, NFRN's Director of Competition.
"We reviewed all the footage we had to try and figure out what we were dealing with," Neuert said. "In this situation, fault could be assigned to both drivers. On one hand, you have Van Arsdale too far forward from where he should be in line after taking the caution, and you have Thomas forcing a driver into a precarious position. Van Arsdale loses any chance of contending for positions, and Van Arsdale loses a potential victory. The leader should have the right of way, but there are times when you hit an extreme case, and I think that's what we have here." Van Arsdale is receiving no penalty from this instance, which Neuert explains is an ultimatum to a situation poorly handled by the league in season 1. "At Brooklands [Outer Circuit] last year, Van Arsdale was wrecked by the eventual winner of the race [Dajon Weeks] while he finished 42nd, and we had no penalty policy put in place to handle this," Neuert said. "Without that in consideration, we would likely hand a one-race probation to him as well, but due to what we overlooked last year, he will be let off with a warning." The probation is shorter than that handed to TJ Smith for a similar incident at Mirage Short Roval, and Neuert was questioned about that. "We have to consider the level of blatancy," Neuert said. "In that case, there's no number of excuses you can give to run into another car that many times, especially one that involved another driver who wasn't an issue to him all day."
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