In the overtime win at Richmond Raceway last Sunday Austin Dillon did not hesitate to do a bump and run on Joey Logano spinning Logano out and then sideswiping Denny Hamlin, sending Hamlin’s number eleven car into the wall to take the win.
While Dillon was doing a massive burnout celebrating his first win in 68 races, Joey Logano was on pit road near Dillon’s number three car pit stall doing a burnout of his own.
NASCAR has issued penalties to both drivers with Austin Dillon and the number three team getting the most severe of the penalties.
While Dillon is allowed to keep the win, he will not be allowed to count the race toward a playoff bid. NASCAR cited the rule book and section 12.3.2.1b 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 and Richard Childress Racing have also been docked 25 driver and owner points which drops Dillon back down in the point standings. Before the race win and potential playoff spot, Dillon 32nd in the point standings; the win put Dillon 26th place – 13th place in the playoff grid. With the loss of points, Dillon is now in 31st place.
Dillon’s spotter Brandon Benesch was heard telling Dillon to “wreck him (Hamlin)”; as a result, Benesch has been suspended for the next three races – the remainder of the regular season.
NASCAR senior vice president of competition Elton Sawyer spoke on the decision to penalize Dillon saying, “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 three and as the cars got to the start/finish line. 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 years, forever, on good, hard racing. Contact has been acceptable. We felt like, in this case, that the line was crossed.” The number three team has the right to appeal the ruling.
Speaking on the actions of the number three car’s spotter, Sawyer added, “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. 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.”
NASCAR fined Joey Logano $50,000 for his pit road burnout citing a violation of the NASCAR member code of conduct.
Speaking on Logano and his actions Sawyer said, “some of this, we’ve got some work to do on our side. There was a lot of people on pit road, and there always is. We have our officials out there. The drivers need to understand that. Totally understand the emotion — I get it, I’ve been there a few years back. But you have to respect the fact that we do have people on pit road. Our officials will be there, security will be there. We’ll do a better job on our side to make sure that families and young children and sponsors and of that nature are not on the hot side.”
With Austin Dillon’s playoff spot vacated, there are again four spots open in the 16 driver playoff standings open with just three races remaining in the regular season. Dillon will have to win another race over the next three weeks if he wants a spot in the playoffs.
Twelve drivers have earned spots in the playoffs with race wins; at the moment Martin Truex Jr, Ty Gibbs, Bubba Wallace, and Chris Buescher hold the final spots on points. Buescher moved into the “bubble spot” in 16th place after NASCAR vacated Austin Dillon’s playoff spot in the penalty.