NASCAR officials have a difficult task ahead this week.
Following Austin Dillon’s stunning victory at Richmond (Va.) Raceway on Sunday night,the sanctioning body is reviewing video and audio of the finish and considering whether or not Dillon’s winning bump-and-run is worthy of a post-race penalty.
Dillon, who hadn’t won a NASCAR Cup Series race in nearly two years (68 races), had an opportunity to alter the course of his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing team’s season.
Chasing leader Joey Logano into turn three on the white flag lap, Dillon dove deep into the corner and tagged Logano’s rear bumper, spinning the driver of the No. 22. Dillon, however, wasn’t finished.
With Denny Hamlin powering to the inside of Dillon exiting turn four, the driver of the No. 3 clipped Hamlin’s right rear, sending Hamlin into the wall.
Dillon won the race to the checkered flag, leaving Logano and Hamlin fuming after the race.
Logano called Dillon a “piece of crap,” followed by an insult of “He sucks. He’s sucked his whole career and now he’s gonna be in the playoffs.”
Hamlin was more calculated with his frustration, stating there isn’t a penalty for “rough driving” and that he understands the move Dillon made. However, “Doesn’t mean I have to agree with it.”
Speaking of the playoffs, Dillon, who entered Sunday’s race 32nd in the standings with two top-10 finishes, has now vaulted to 13th on the playoff grid after two precise knockouts at the .75-mile oval.
Now the major question arises — What will NASCAR officials do?
NASCAR has laid the blueprint out for these types of circumstances the last two years.
In last year’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway, Chase Elliott was suspended for one race after intentionally wrecking Hamlin on the frontstretch.
The same punishment was handed to Bubba Wallace in October of 2022 after the driver of the No. 23 Toyota intentionally spun Kyle Larson at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Neither incident, however, was a race-winning move like Dillon’s.
NASCAR’s Senior Vice President of Competition, Elton Sawyer, spoke about the incident following the race, stating Dillon’s actions were “right up against the line.”
“We’re gonna go back, we’re gonna look at all the video, gonna listen to the audio. We’re gonna gather all the information. We wanna make the right decision,” Sawyer said.
“Obviously, it’s the last lap. Our DNA has been for years, to be aggressive. But, we just gotta make sure that we’re doing that in the right way. We’ll download this, we’ll look at it, make sure that going forward, everybody has an understanding of how we’re gonna race.
“If we see something that rises to a level, then for sure we’ll penalize.”
A decision regarding any possible penalties against Dillon is expected within the next few days.