NASCAR announced that officials ruled on Wednesday that Richard Childress Racing driver Austin Dillon’s win at Richmond Raceway would not count toward eligibility for the Cup Series Playoffs, as he crashed Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin on the final lap of Sunday’s Cook Out 400 to get the win.
It was ruled that Austin Dillon’s win would stand, but his automatic berth into the 16-driver postseason would be voided for violating Section 12.3.2.1.b of the NASCAR Rule Book, which states, “Race finishes must be unencumbered by violation(s) of the NASCAR Rules or other action(s) detrimental to stock car auto racing or NASCAR as determined in the sole discretion of NASCAR.”
Dillon’s team was also docked 25 points in drivers’ and owners’ standings, which drops him from 26th to 31st. Essentially, Dillon will have to win one of the next three races before the playoffs start to get in.
After the race, both Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin were vocal about Dillon’s maneuver. Logano did not hold back on Dillon, even critiquing his ability as a driver. Hamlin was upset as well, but said he understood it from Dillon’s perspective. Neither driver believed that NASCAR would actually take away Dillon’s playoff berth, but that is what ended up happening. Logano was fined $50,000 for actions after the race, as he spun his tires near the No. 3 pit box in anger.
Why did NASCAR take away Austin Dillon’s playoff berth?
In the announcement, NASCAR senior vice president of competition, Elton Sawyer, spoke on why the penalties were enforced.
“I think in all due respect to the appeal process, we looked at this and the totality of everything that happened as you enter Turn 3 and as the cars got to the start/finish line,” Elton Sawyer said in the announcement. “So, as we look through all of that data, we came to the conclusion that a line had been crossed. Our sport has been based going for many, many year, forever, on good, hard racing. Contact has been acceptable. We felt like, in this case, that the line was crossed.”
Dillon’s spotter, Brandon Benesch, was suspended for three races as well after team radio transmissions revealed that he said “wreck him” as Dillon was racing alongside Hamlin to the start/finish line. Sawyer explained the suspension.
“If you look at at the crew chief and you look at the spotter, and view them as calming voices in the driver’s ear, in this case, we just felt like we’ve all listened to the audio,” Sawyer said of Brandon Benesch’s suspension. “We know exactly what was said. We just felt like that that’s not what we need spotters doing. That’s not what we need (from a) crew chief sitting on the box. They’re a calming voice to what the situation is in front of them, and they’re supposed to be spotting for the race, not making comments like were made, as we all know.
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