On Sunday night at Richmond, after Austin Dillon knocked the cars of Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin out of the way to win the Cook Out 400, NASCAR senior vice president of competition Elton Sawyer said Dillon had come close to the line of what’s acceptable in NASCAR Cup Series racing.
After reviewing the finish away from the track, NASCAR determined Dillon had crossed that line and summarily stripped him of the benefits of the victory—most notably Playoff eligibility.
Dillon retains the win for the record books but will not be eligible to compete for the series title on the basis of the victory.
Under Sections 4.4.B&D: NASCAR Member Conduct; 10.1 A: General Procedure; 12.3.2.1 B: Eligibility of the rulebook, the win stands but the benefits including Playoff points and/or Playoff seeding have been stripped from the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing team.
“If you take the total body of work, if you will, then starting it into turn 3, the contact with the 3 and the 22 and as it progressed all the way through (turns) three and four, then the contact with 3 and 11 all the way to the start finish line, we took all of that in totality as we looked at it,” Sawyer said. “The number one thing is that we want to make sure that we are protecting the integrity of our playoffs as well as our championship.
“When we get to Phoenix and 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.”
Dillon and owner Richard Childress have each been penalized 25 driver and owner points. He drops to 31st in the Cup standings.
Dillon’s spotter Brandon Benesch has been suspended for three races for instructing his driver to “wreck” a fellow competitor (Sections 4.4.B&D: NASCAR Member Conduct; 10.1 A: General Procedure). Benesch can return to duty at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sept. 8.
Logano has been fined $50,000 for violating Sections 4.4.B&D: NASCAR Member Conduct — after buzzing bystanders in the No. 3 pit on pit road after the race.
Sawyer was apologetic for the delay which stretched nearly three full days after the incident.
“The magnitude of this decision was and is huge,” Sawyer said. “We thought it was very important to get this right. So, starting Sunday night, gathering all the data, working again on Monday, all day yesterday and looking at all the SMT data with the in-car cameras, obviously the audio, gathering all of these facts, the meetings that we needed.
“Totally, understand our fans. I want to apologize to them for this taking as long as it did. They have been patient through this process. So, I’m talking to them now, letting them know why it took so long to get this decision.”
Richard Childress Racing released a statement Wednesday evening stating they do not agree with NASCAR’s decision and plan to appeal.
“Richard Childress Racing is very disappointed in NASCAR’s penalty against the No. 3 team. We do not agree with the decision that was made and plan to appeal,” the statement read.
NASCAR has not yet indicated the date of the appeal. With the appeal, Dillon’s win will for now count towards the Playoff until a final decision is made from the appeals panel.
If the appeal is denied, Richard Childress Racing has the right to appeal the decision of the National Motorsports Appeals Panel to the National Motorsports Final Appeals Officer in accordance with the NASCAR Rule Book.
Follow Lee Spencer on Twitter @CandiceSpencer or email her at: [email protected].
• CATCHFENCE.com senior editor Chris Knight (@Knighter01) contributed to this report.
