NASCAR understood the importance of not only making a ruling, but making the correct one about Sunday night’s finish at Richmond Raceway, which is why it took three days to announce the penalties.
“I want to apologize to [the fans] for this taking as long as it did,” NASCAR senior vice president of competition Elton Sawyer said. “They’ve been patient through this process [and] I’m talking to them now, letting them know why it took so long to get to this decision.”
Sawyer explained the process started on Sunday night by gathering all the available information. NASCAR then continued its review of SMT data, in-car video, and audio and went through all necessary meetings before stripping the Cup Series playoff eligibility that the victory gave Austin Dillon.
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Dillon’s No. 3 team was also docked 25 points in the owner and driver championship standings. Dillon’s spotter, Brandon Benesch, was suspended for three races because of his “wreck him” instruction over the team communication.
Richard Childress Racing can appeal the penalty. Dillon must win one of the next three races to earn a postseason berth.
NASCAR made its decision about Dillon based on the totality of his actions. Dillon was running second when he drove into Turn 3 and spun Joey Logano from the race lead on the final lap of overtime. He then right-hooked Denny Hamlin in Turn 4 after Hamlin had driven to his inside coming to the checkered flag.
“The number one thing is, we want to make sure we are protecting the integrity of our playoffs as well as our championship when we get to Phoenix,” Sawyer said. “We want to make sure 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 a line.”
Sawyer admitted that NASCAR is looking into how they can make rulings much faster than days later. However, it was more important in this situation to get it right than to be fast in its decision.
A suspension for Dillon was also considered in the process. NASCAR has suspended two drivers over the last two years – Bubba Wallace in 2022 and Chase Elliott in 2023 – for right-hooking a fellow competitor, and those two incidents were put up against what Dillon did over the weekend.
“But each individual situation is different, and when we looked at this in the totality, we felt like that the penalty that we have issued the No. 3, and the No. 3 owner, that takes the eligibility of using that win away from that, that fit what happened on Sunday night,” Sawyer said. “We didn’t feel we needed to add the suspension to it.”