Austin Dillon Slammed with Penalty by NASCAR

Won’t Gain Playoff Spot for Richmond Win after Wrecking Joey Logan

In major NASCAR news, the sport’s governing body came down as hard on Austin Dillon as the driver of the “3” car did to Joey Logano on Sunday’s last lap in the Richmond race. Dillon’s Disqualification Drama has become the talk of the NASCAR community.

Dillon is considered the winner of the race. However, he loses 25 points, and the victory will not make him eligible for the playoffs. A victory in a NASCAR regular-season race typically assures the driver and team a playoff spot, but Dillon’s Disqualification Drama has changed the narrative.

From NASCAR: Elton Sawyer, senior vice president of competition, indicated that the penalties stemmed from the total chain of events through Turns 3 and 4 on the final lap.

“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 3 and as the cars got to the start/finish line” Sawyer said. “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 video on Twitter of Dillon’s actions has more than 1.1 million views.

Inside Dillon’s Car

Dillon knew what he did was quite questionable and spoke about it after crossing the finish line.

NASCAR tweeted the decision on Wednesday after much deliberation, saying the driver violated its playoff eligibility and thus lost the benefits of the win. Also because of the incidents, Logano was fined $50,000. Dillon’s spotter, Brandon Benesch, was suspended for the next three races. Dillon’s Disqualification Drama has not only affected his playoff chances but also led to penalties for others involved.

Sawyer explained the thought process that went into the officials’ decision to suspend Benesch, saying:

“If you look 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.”

 

What Went Down

Logano was in the lead after getting a better restart than Dillon in the final stages of the race. Dillon, who has not enjoyed stellar results for years, and needed the victory to qualify for the playoffs.

Another driver, Corey Lajoie, has a podcast and he synced the audio of Benesch to the race.

Logano’s fine was given because he spun his car’s wheels on pit road in front of Dillon’s team after the debacle.

Hamlin was adamant after the race that Dillon needed to be penalized.

You can not reward that type of on-track action in my opinion” Hamlin said. “We’ve gone too far. This is too far. I understand side-by-side battles, sometimes someone spins out. But that was cleaning someone out and not a racing move.”

For NASCAR odds, betting analysis and more, visit Point Spreads Sports Magazine.


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