Earlier, Shane van Gisbergen dominated the proceedings at the inaugural Mexico NASCAR Cup race. With this, he stamped his authority and sealed his Playoff berth. The event was far from straightforward, as the heavens opened early in the race and claimed a few victims. Among them was Kyle Busch, whose car spun and went bowling, knocking out multiple cars. Others also began to slip and slide as they tried to navigate the treacherous conditions. But there was one incident which should have warranted a NASCAR penalty.On lap 73, Riley Herbst was battling with William Byron and spun his #35 Toyota Camry just heading into the stadium section of the circuit. Herbst was stalled in the middle of the track, and he barely avoided the traffic that came his way. Ideally, NASCAR should’ve thrown a caution flag, but the race remained green, and the 23XI Racing driver, knowing that the race was still green, stepped on the gas and did a 360 spin to head in the right direction. And this nearly took out Ricky Stenhouse Jr.Luckily, the #47 Hyak Motorsports driver had the presence of mind to slam the brakes. Otherwise, he would have T-boned the unaware rookie in what would have been an almighty accident. In the end, both drivers escaped unscathed and were able to continue the race. Stenhouse Jr. ended up finishing in 27th place, with Riley Herbst two places behind in 29th. Though many felt that Herbst should have been slapped with a NASCAR penalty for his egregious attempts to get back in the race.Truthfully, Herbst has been a bit under pressure this season, thanks to some underwhelming performances. The 26-year-old has not had a single Top 10 finish all year, and his best finish was 14th at the Texas Motor Speedway. Given that teammates Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick have been in decent form, Herbst needs to pull up his socks. Not to forget, Corey Heim is waiting to pounce on an opportunity, and he did beat him on performance in Bristol, finishing P8. Points on the line with the playoff picture in mind, Herbst didn’t flinch in pulling off a Tokyo-drift-like move. But, it could’ve ended in a crash.Look out! pic.twitter.com/aGfYqM6JFu— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 15, 2025A race fan on Reddit shared a thread with the clip of Stenhouse Jr. applying an evasive maneuver as asked if Herbst should’ve been reprimanded for his action: “Should Riley Herbst be penalized for his unsafe rejoin?” And let’s just say fans weren’t thrilled to see Herbst get off the hook without any penalty or suspension.NASCAR fans demand a strict penalty for Riley Herbst“He will definitely be reprimanded by Nascar, quick thinking by Stenhouse to slam the brakes,” a fan replied on the thread. Although Herbst didn’t receive a drive-thru penalty in Mexico, we just might see NASCAR dropping the hammer with a ruling. The officials release the penalties and suspension after the race weekend, and a potential points penalty could be very costly for the 23XI Racing driver.“I can’t recall a ruling on a road course where nascar has enforced this but yeah they really shouldn’t let this slide that was bs and dangerous.” Apparently, the safe rejoin rule is more prominent in Formula One. One fan said, “I know we hate a lot of F1’s rules, but unsafe rejoin, simple. Drive through or even getting parked is what I’d rule IMO.” The officials are more lenient when it comes to throwing the caution on a road course as the driver has time to fire off and drive away. But that happens usually when there are no cars around and the stalled car doesn’t impede other drivers on the track, which wasn’t the case with Herbst.The consensus was that Herbst needed to be taken to task. Someone ranted, “Has to be some punishment for Herbst for that. Thats ARCA bullsh-t.” Meanwhile, others raised a few tips on what he could have done instead. They said, “Could have reversed and done a 3 point turn. But, really. Every single motorsport has penalties for joining the track unsafely. Herbst should have gotten one today that would have sent him to the rear anyway.” There were a few who exercised caution and gave the young driver the benefit of the doubt. In such cases, the driver relies on the call by his spotter and proceeds with racing. But the tricky part here is that the section of the track where Herbst spun was a blind spot, so it is hard to say for certain if he got the go-ahead from his spotter. “That’s a fair point. If his spotter told him to then it’s hard to blame him. Honestly didn’t think of that.”Keep a close watch on NASCAR’s communication channels; we might see a penalty for the 23XI Racing driver for what was an unsafe move to get back to racing in Mexico.The post “That’s ARCA Bullsh-T”: Calls Mount for Penalty as Fans Demand NASCAR to Punish Cup Star’s Maneuver appeared first on EssentiallySports.