NASCAR laid the hammer down on [autotag]Austin Dillon[/autotag] after dumping Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin at Richmond Raceway. Dillon was stripped of his automatic playoff berth in 2024. Richard Childress Racing appealed Dillon’s penalty, only to be denied a complete overturn. The No. 3 team will have one more shot at an appeal on Monday after the weekend in Florida.
Following the verdict, NASCAR president Steve Phelps went on Kevin Harvick’s podcast, Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour, and discussed Dillon’s actions. Clearly, Phelps was not pleased with how the Richard Childress Racing driver competed at the end of Richmond.
“If we hadn’t penalized it, then I think what we would see over the next 12 weeks would look significantly different,” Phelps said. “We just can’t have it. It really comes down to ‘What do you want your sport to be?’ And that’s why I think we ruled the way we did because we’re not demolition derby; we’re just not. We are a sport that if we had done nothing, we would’ve opened ourselves up for a mess, honestly.”
Phelps saying that NASCAR is “not a demolition derby” is a massive statement. The sport will not tolerate actions that Dillon displayed at Richmond, and it seems to be a trendsetter for the months ahead. NASCAR was unhappy with Dillon after the event, and Monday will be a big indicator of what will be accepted moving forward.
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