Austin Dillon’s automatic spot in NASCAR’s playoff was revoked — though he retained his victory at Richmond Raceway — after it was determined the driver “crossed a line” in his intentional last-lap wreck of drivers Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin.
Dillon won for the first time in nearly two years in the Cup Series on Sunday night, but the checkered flag seemed out of reach before he spun Logano out of the way and then sent Hamlin into the wall as well — all in the final few seconds.
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Logano and Hamlin railed against Dillon’s aggressiveness and the highlight-reel finish set off days of controversy in NASCAR.
NASCAR said Wednesday that Dillon committed “actions detrimental to stock car auto racing” in its decision to kick him out of a spot in the 16-driver field. There are three Cup Series races left before the field is set, starting Sunday at Michigan International Speedway.
Elton Sawyer, the senior vice president of competition, said NASCAR considered suspending Dillon for his actions. Dillon and the Richard Childress Racing No. 3 team also were docked 25 points in both the drivers’ and owners’ standings. Dillon dropped from 26th to 31st in the driver standings.
Dillon’s spotter, Brandon Benesch, was suspended for three races for yelling “wreck him!” over the radio as the driver battled with Hamlin down the stretch.
“The No. 1 thing is we want to make sure is we're protecting the integrity of the playoffs as well as our championship when we get to Phoenix,” Sawyer said.
RCR said it would appeal, stating on social media it was “ very disappointed ” in NASCAR's decision.
In NASCAR's view, Dillon's moves went beyond the hard-racing ethos that's been part of the Cup Series' DNA since its 1948 inception.
Logano also was fined $50,000 for smoking his tires on pit road as he drove by Dillon and his team.
“It’s ridiculous that that’s the way we race. Unbelievable,” Logano said Sunday. “I get bump and runs. I do that. I would expect it. But from four car lengths back, he was never going to make the corner. And then he wrecks the other car. He wrecks the 11 to go with it. What a piece of crap.”
Dillon said he was trying to move Logano’s car, but hitting Hamlin as well was more of an instant reaction.
“I’ve seen Denny and Joey make moves that have been running people up the track to win,” Dillon said. “This was the first opportunity in two years for me to be able to get a win. ... I’ve seen a lot of stuff over the years in NASCAR where people move people, and it’s just part of our sport.”
It was his first win since Aug. 28, 2022, at Daytona. He had just two top-10 finishes this year. Dillon emerged from all the chaos with a victory in his No. 3 Chevrolet. That number was famously driven — often aggressively — by Dale Earnhardt.
“That's not the way we want our races to end,” Sawyer said. “That's not the way we want to decide a champion. That's not the way we want to decide an event.”
The win-and-you’re-in nature of postseason qualification means the difference between first place and second can be massive. In this case — in the moment, at least — it meant the difference for Dillon between another lost season and a championship chase.
“The record book won’t care, right, about what happened,” Hamlin said on pit road Sunday. “He’s going to be credited with the win.”
He will — the fifth of Dillons's career over 395 Cup starts. The victory won't mean much if Dillon is just racing out the string once the final 10-race postseason starts Sept. 8 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
NASCAR has run into a spate of contentious finishes over the last few years that forced the sanctioning body to step in and discipline drivers.
NASCAR suspended Bubba Wallace for one race in 2022 after an investigation determined he deliberately spun Kyle Larson at Las Vegas in a “dangerous act” of retaliation. A year later, Chase Elliott was suspended for one race after he deliberately wrecked Hamlin in the Coca-Cola 600.
“Each individual situation is different,” Sawyer said. “When we looked at this in the totality, we felt like the penalty have issued the 3 and the 3 owner ... that fits what happened on Sunday night. We didn't feel like we needed to add the suspension to it.”
Sawyer apologized for the delay in ruling and said NASCAR would like to get to a point where there are more “on-the-spot” decisions when issuing punishments.
Dillon, of course, could regain a playoff spot with a victory in any of the next three races. Entering Michigan, 12 drivers have their spot secured with four spots open. Martin Truex Jr., Ty Gibbs, Wallace and Chris Buescher hold the final four spots on points. Michigan, Daytona International Speedway and Darlington Raceway close NASCAR's regular season.
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AP NASCAR: https://apnews.com/hub/nascar-racing