Austin Dillon won the race after a last-lap incident in which he turned Joey Logano and then hooked Denny Hamlin to take the checkered flag and what he believed to be an automatic playoff berth that goes with a regular-season win.
While NASCAR will not take away Dillon’s win, it will not allow him to use the win for an automatic playoff berth. Dillon was also docked 25 points in the standings and his spotter, Brandon Benesch, was suspended for three races. This decision was made in an unexpected move.
Logano spun due to the contact and Dillon braked, during which Hamlin attempted to pass both of them on the inside for the lead. Dillon then turned down and hit Hamlin’s right rear, sending him into the wall before escaping with his fifth career Cup Series triumph.
The move was roundly condemned by fans and drivers, with Logano describing Dillon as a “piece of crap” who “sucked his whole career.” When a penalty was not immediately imposed, Hamlin expressed his doubt that NASCAR would punish Dillon.
After three days of review, the sanctioning authority ultimately ruled that a points deduction was justified. He is the first Cup driver to retain the win but lose the points that come with it since Kevin Harvick lost his Las Vegas and Texas victories in 2018 to illegal parts, a status called “encumbered” in NASCAR’s vocabulary; NASCAR subsequently implemented disqualifications for winners that take away wins if they fail inspection.
“That definitely crossed the line, in our opinion,” Senior Vice President of Competition Elton Sawyer said. “Our sport has always been built on intense emotions and the idea that “win and you’re in,” but we will take action if we believe that the sanctioning body has gone too far in a way that jeopardizes the integrity of both our championship and our playoff system.
“If you look at everything that happened as the #3 (Dillon) and the #22 (Logano) entered Turn 3 and then on the exit of four with the #3 and the #11 (Hamlin), the total body of work, the information that we gathered through all of that led us to the conclusion that we came to on the penalties.”
Further complicating matters was the discovery that the #3’s spotter Brandon Benesch had publicly rooted for Dillon to “wreck” Logano over their radio talks. Richard Childress, Dillon’s grandfather and the team owner, first denied that Benesch’s words had ever happened until defending him after learning of them. On Wednesday, Benesch received a three-race suspension; he can be reinstated in Atlanta in September.
Richard Childress Racing intend to appeal the penalty.
Sawyer went on, “This is not something that NASCAR really wants to get involved in.” We have permitted our drivers to race for many years and we will do so in the future. “Every driver knows where the line is, as do those national series garages at the Cup, Xfinity, and Truck levels. Occasionally, they might inquire as to where the line is.
“I promise that if you ask them where it is when you walk through there, they will know. In this instance, we simply thought that it was necessary to let them know that we too have boundaries and that we will not put up with this.
Logano did not escape punishment either, but it had nothing to do with his critical remarks about Dillon.He was fined USD $50,000 (about €45,410) by NASCAR for performing a burnout along pit road without stopping following the race, almost crashing into nearby spectators and RCR team members. He was chastised and told to stop by an official, but Logano complied with the decision and Team Penske has no plans to file an appeal.
Dillon once again in a NASCAR hole
With the 25 points from the win void, Dillon is once again outside the top 30 in the championship at 31st. The victory initially propelled him from 32nd to 26th in the regular season standings, however 13th among those qualified for the playoffs as the lowest-ranking race winner.
As long as they have competed in every race and receive a waiver, drivers are guaranteed a postseason spot under the current NASCAR format. Drivers must finish in the top 30 in order to qualify before 2023. Because of this, Dillon still has a chance to advance; however, he needs to win in Michigan, Daytona, or Darlington. Dillon has won Daytona twice, including in the championship round of the regular NASCAR season in 2022, when he did so.
In addition, Chris Buescher is now once again projected to finish as the 16th and last driver to qualify for the playoffs if the regular season ends after Richmond due to the penalty. He shares the lead in points with Ross Chastain, but the former has the advantage because to his two second-place results at Phoenix and Kansas, while the latter’s best run comes from a fourth place finish in Las Vegas.
