NASCAR is an automotive sport I’ve not watched in years. The days of Dale Earnhardt, Rusty Wallace, and Jeff Gordan are long gone, and I’ve lost interest. Still, once in a great while, I pay attention to NASCAR again. This time fifteen-year-old ARCA Menards Series driver Taylor Gray has me checking it out again.
For those who don’t know, the ARCA series is a minor, semi-professional league where drivers prepare for the big show, the NASCAR Cup Series.
This time, I’m less interested in the actual sport and more mind-blown by what Taylor Gray did at Daytona. During the 2021 NASCAR ARCA test session at Daytona, Gray decided to use his cell phone to film himself driving. Using a cell phone at any speed is super distracting and could cause an accident or, in Stock Car racing, the “big wreck.” But using a cellphone going 180mph+, well, that’s just insanity. The Tweet below from @MyNameisBigCam shows Gray’s clip on his social media.
Hey @TaylorGray17_ I’m pretty sure when your going for a @ARCA_Racing license this isn’t the proper play chief. @dgr_racing @NASCAR
— cameron davidson (@MyNameisBigCam) January 16, 2021
@FordPerformance
#ARCAMenards @GeoffBodine1 pic.twitter.com/zoA9cB1G0W
I guess this may have been a good test of the built-in stabilization of his smartphone video camera. All jokes aside, Gray has been fined $1000 by NASCAR and put on probation for the entire 2021 ARCA season.
It goes without saying; that driving while using a cell phone was just a poor choice. Especially when you’re sitting in a car that is going as fast as a stock car; hopefully, Gray has learned a lesson from this and will leave the in-car video recording to the network in-car cameras going forward.
What do you think about this story? Were the actions NASCAR took sufficient punishment? What do you think of using a cell phone while operating a motor vehicle, professional driver or not? Do you think he should have been punished at all? Let us know in the comments below or on Twitter or Facebook. You can also comment on our MeWe page by joining the MeWe social network.
Last Updated on January 7, 2023.
