15-year-old could face NASCAR penalties after posting video of himself driving at Daytona to Snapchat
Don’t film yourself during a Daytona test session. And don’t post that video to social media.
That’s the lessons that 15-year-old Taylor Gray has undoubtedly learned after he posted a video of himself driving during an ARCA Series test session at Daytona to Snapchat on Friday.
Here’s the video. Gray doesn’t appear to be around any other cars while he’s on the track.
Hey @TaylorGray17_ I'm pretty sure when your going for a @ARCA_Racing license this isn't the proper play chief. @dgr_racing @NASCAR
@FordPerformance
#ARCAMenards @GeoffBodine1 pic.twitter.com/zoA9cB1G0W— cameron davidson (@MyNameisBigCam) January 16, 2021
As you can imagine, it’s against NASCAR rules to film yourself with your phone while driving during a test, practice or race (NASCAR owns the ARCA Series). In fact, it’s against NASCAR rules to have a phone or any type of device that can record in your car at all.
Drivers have been penalized for that rule infraction before, so it’s very possible that NASCAR will sanction Gray — especially since he posted it to social media. While driving with no one else around you at Daytona isn’t the most challenging thing in racing — drivers don’t typically have to lift off the gas or work very hard to steer their cars — it’s still a terrible idea to use your phone while going over 170 MPH.
Gray made his first ARCA starts in 2020 after he turned 15 in March. He had 11 top-10 finishes in 12 starts and had eight top-five finishes. Drivers between the ages of 15 and 18 are allowed to race in ARCA races at oval tracks under a mile in length and road courses and can participate in test sessions. ARCA was holding an open test session on Friday and Saturday and Gray was participating despite being ineligible to race in the series’ February race at the track until he’s 18.
Any penalties from NASCAR would be announced during the middle of the week. We’ll see how stringent NASCAR could be if it chooses to penalize Gray.
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