Austin Dillon’s actions at the end of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond (Va.) Raceway went too far, according to Senior Vice President of Competition Elton Sawyer.
Racing for the win in overtime, Dillon punted Joey Logano into the wall before coming back down the track and turning Denny Hamlin for the victory. The win locked the Richard Childress Racing driver into the playoffs – at least until Wednesday afternoon.
NASCAR announced that Dillon had been stripped of his playoff eligibility, meaning he’ll have to win one of the final three regular-season races to return to the 16-driver playoff grid. He lost 25 owner and playoff points and will be without spotter Brandon Benesch – who encouraged Dillon to wreck the drivers on the radio – for three races.
The final decision on sanctions came later than expected. But Sawyer said more importantly, NASCAR wanted to make the correct call.
“The magnitude of this decision was and is huge,” Sawyer said, apologizing to fans for the delay. “If you take the total body of work, that starting at Turn Three, the contact with the 3 and the 22 and as it progressed all the way through [Turns] Three and Four. Then the contact with the 3 and the 11 all the way to the start/finish line.
“We want to make sure that we are protecting the integrity of our playoffs, as well as our championship when we get to Phoenix … it was more important to take the time to get it correct.”
NASCAR thought about other options as well. According to Sawyer, the sanctioning body considered stripping the win away from Dillon but said that there isn’t a “mechanism” in the rulebook that allows them to do that.
NASCAR also considered a suspension for Dillon. His wreck of Hamlin came from contact with his right rear, a similar move that has suspended drivers in the past. At Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2022, Bubba Wallace was suspended from a race for right-rearing Kyle Larson after the two made contact. At Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2023, it was a similar circumstance with Chase Elliott and Hamlin. Elliott turned Hamlin into the frontstretch wall and also sat out one event.
But removing Dillon from the playoffs and docking both he and Richard Childress points was enough, Sawyer said.
“It basically takes the eligibility of using that win away from them. That fit what happened on Sunday night and we didn’t feel that we needed to add the suspension to it,” Sawyer explained. “We want to make sure that our competitors understand that we want them to make all the decisions. We want them to be able to race hard. That’s what our sport has been about for 75-plus years. But we also want them to understand, and I believe that each and every one of them understands that this crossed the line.”
But what exactly is that line?
Hard racing? Moving another car out of the groove for the win? Both are fair game.
But intentionally wrecking two drivers? Not so much.
“If you walk through that garage this weekend and you look at those guys, they are going to know where the line is, I promise you,” Sawyer said. “As a race car driver, they know where the line is. They’ve done this a long time. It’s been a few years since I did, but I promise you, I knew where the line is.”
RCR will appeal the points penalties and the playoff eligibility while Benesch will serve his suspension beginning at Michigan Int’l Speedway this weekend. Logano was also fined $50,000 for spinning his tires on pit road after the race.