The stars of the NASCAR Cup Series arrived to Michigan International Speedway on Saturday prepared to share their opinions on Austin Dillon’s controversial win and subsequent stripping of the playoff eligibility that came with it from NASCAR.
Michigan native Brad Keselowski was just surprised he hadn’t happened already.
“I’m kind of surprised that didn’t happen earlier, to be honest, in the playoff format,” Keselowski told assembled media in an availability prior to Saturday’s Cup practice and qualifying sessions. “Maybe it’s just part of a natural evolution that happens slowly over time.”
Dillon was far from the first driver to win a race with contact in NASCAR’s win-and-in playoff era, but his actions were arguably the biggest test of the sport’s limits.
After losing the lead on a restart with two laps remaining, Dillon dive-bombed leader Joey Logano into Turn 3 and spun him out. It opened the door for Denny Hamlin to scoot under the pair and inherit the top spot, but Dillon right-reared the No. 11 Toyota off Turn 4 and sent him careening into the outside wall.
It was enough to secure the Richard Childress Racing driver a trip to victory lane and provisional playoff spot on Sunday night, but three days later NASCAR elected to penalize Dillon for the actions. He kept the victory but was stripped of playoff eligibility and docked 25 points in the drivers’ and owners’ championship.
Hamlin was happy with the call given the circumstances.
“Certainly, in the moment, if you just take the win, everything fixes itself at that point instead of having this split-decision,” Hamlin told the media Saturday. “As I understand it, there’s some iffy language in the rulebook. Can you really go back and take the win this late in the game?
“I think in the future you just send whoever it is to the back and it all fixes itself. You don’t have to worry about taking off playoff eligibility and stuff like that, but given how much time it took, it was probably the right call.”
The incident was complicated – egregious in nature but fostered by the necessity of wins in NASCAR’s win-and-in playoff system. Dillon entered Richmond 32nd in points, struggling through perhaps the worst season of his Cup career. A playoff-clinching win would have been enough to turn his No. 3 team’s season around, making a major financial swing for Richard Childress Racing in the process.
It made Dillon’s actions understandable, if unacceptable. “I have some sympathies for all the parties involved, whether it be NASCAR, Austin or certainly the guys that got wrecked last week,” Keselowski said. “But the way the system is set up, I kind of understand it.
“That has an effect that transcends not just the Cup Series, but on down. It’s something I think NASCAR felt a lot of pressure to react on, and they did. I don’t know if I have an idea on whether they made the right move or the wrong move, but I guess time will tell.”
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Asked if they would be willing to replicate Dillon’s actions for a critical win, opinions varied. Erik Jones said there was “not a chance,” saying it’s “just not the way I race.” He also pointed out the ripple effect these incidents can have on racing down to the grassroots level.
“Whether we like it or not, it is a trickle-down effect,” Jones said. “What we do on Sundays trickles down — not just to Xfinity, Trucks and ARCA. It trickles down to late models, street stocks, front-wheel drives, quarter midgets, go karts. All these guys and kids watch what we do on Sunday and think what we do is right.”
Ross Chastain was comparatively uncertain. “I never thought I would drive into the wall at Martinsville in fifth gear until I did it,” he said. “No one knows what’s going through Austin’s head for that scenario. I don’t have a predetermined decision on what I’m going to do. It’s just racing at the end of these races.”
RFK Racing’s duo both acknowledged that cleaning out someone for a win isn’t something the organization ever plans to do. Months after seeing a potential win lost cleanly in a photo-finish at Kansas Speedway, Buescher said a precent for wrecking being okay “really wouldn’t change the style of racing that we’re going to do in our camp.”
His owner-teammate, Keselowski, offered perhaps the most nuanced take.
“We would all adapt to it, naturally,” Keselowski said. “You have to adapt to it. If that became the norm every week, then I think actions would speak louder than words and we’d all probably fall into that reality.
“I don’t think we have any intentions of getting to that being the norm every week, particularly at RFK. But you race what the rules are — if the rules are something’s okay, we’re probably going to do it, whether that’s on the car or on the race track.”
Questions will remain moving forward. Dillon’s team is planning to appeal NASCAR’s decision. The intensity on-track is only going to increase as the playoffs arrive. Even if the field can avoid another dramatic ending, eventually another on-track incident will force NASCAR into a judgement call.
Now the sanctioning body will have new precedent, which makes teams feel closer to understanding the limits – even if they aren’t fully defined.
“I believe that hard racing is still okay,” Hamlin said. “I think if two cars are battling side-by-side and one hits the wall because of the close racing, I think that that’s going to be deemed okay.
“I think if you come from a long ways back — you were not going to win the race until you decided to wreck someone — I think that is a clear line in the sand, but sometimes balls and strikes are not totally clear. Sometimes there’s one around the edge and you have to call it.
“But it’s up to us to make that decision. Do we want to put ourselves in that gray area where it could be called one way or another? I think you just have to live with the result.
“I think that if NASCAR polices intentional wrecks for the win going forward, there’s going to be some close calls, but you put yourself in that spot, so you’re going to have to live with the result and the ruling on it.”