Tag: Austin Dillon

NASCAR president gives blunt message on Austin Dillon’s penalty in 2024

NASCAR president Steve Phelps gives a blunt statement on Austin Dillon’s penalty in 2024. Find out what Phelps said about Dillon!

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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NASCAR’s Phelps on Richmond: ‘We’re not [a] demolition derby’

NASCAR president Steve Phelps said the sport is not a “demolition derby” when discussing the finish at Richmond Raceway, and the subsequent decision to penalize winner Austin Dillon, with Kevin Harvick. The interview was filmed for Harvick’s podcast …

NASCAR president Steve Phelps said the sport is not a “demolition derby” when discussing the finish at Richmond Raceway, and the subsequent decision to penalize winner Austin Dillon, with Kevin Harvick.

The interview was filmed for Harvick’s podcast on Fox Sports. It took place before the National Motorsports Appeals Panel denied Richard Childress Racing’s appeal for Dillon and the No. 3 team after his Cup Series playoff eligibility from the victory was stripped because of the contact Dillon made with Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin on the final lap.

Dillon had one of his best performances at Richmond, with a sixth-place qualifying effort and 35 laps led. He was pulling away from the field in the final laps before a caution set up overtime. Logano beat Dillon through Turns 1 and 2 on the first lap of overtime, but Dillon drove into Turn 3 and spun Logano on the final lap. He then right-hooked Hamlin in Turn 4 to secure the victory.

It took NASCAR three days to review the incident before penalizing Dillon. Not only were the perks of the victory taken away, but his team was also docked 25 points in both the drivers’ and owners’ championship standings. Brandon Benesch, Dillon’s spotter, was suspended for three weeks for his radio communication during the final lap, but the appeals panel reduced the penalty to one week.

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“If we hadn’t penalized him, I think what we would see over the next 12 weeks would be 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 [a] demolition derby. We’re just not. We’re a sport that if we had done nothing, we would have opened ourselves up for a mess, honestly.”

Childress is making a final appeal because the organization said in a statement it doesn’t believe the outcome reflects the facts presented. The final appeal will be heard Monday morning.

Dillon was 32nd in the championship standings going into Richmond. Unless the final appeal goes in Dillon’s favor, he needs a win at Daytona International Speedway (Saturday, 7:30pm ET, NBC) or the regular season finale at Darlington Raceway (Sept. 1) to secure a spot in the postseason.

“We don’t want to penalize drivers,” Phelps said. “We don’t want to have cars not pass tech. All of that, we don’t want. But there is a responsibility, if you’re going to be fair about the rules that you’re going to put in place and then officiate, that you have to do it with the utmost integrity, and I believe that our officials right now — Elton Sawyer and his team — they have the utmost integrity.

“I think you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t believe that Elton Sawyer doesn’t have the most integrity of someone that’s in his position. So, the decision … each of those is unique, and we have to treat it as unique.”

Phelps explained the NASCAR competition department reviewed the finish from Richmond before recommending a penalty. Their decision then goes to NASCAR’s upper management — including Phelps, NASCAR chairman and CEO Jim France, and COO Steve O’Donnell — for review. However, unless the group feels it is “significantly wrong,” the decision won’t be overturned.

“The difficulty as it relates to this specific incident, I’ve heard from drivers over the years, ‘I don’t know where the line is. Tell me where the line is. Can you show me the line?’” Phelps said. “I can’t show you the line, but you will know when it’s been crossed. So, if you hook someone going 170 miles per hour on a mile-and-a-half track, you have crossed the line and we’re going to park you. And we’ve been consistent; we’ve had two of those. Do we want to do that? We don’t, but we need to make sure that we are keeping our drivers safe, and when you have a situation like that, it’s not safe.

“Again, as we were looking at the data and what happened, it happened so quickly, but you had two incidents in a split second. Turn 3 had an incident; Turn 4 had an incident and the race was concluded. I think the bump and run or slam and run, whatever it was, I won’t suggest there wouldn’t have been a penalty — I have no idea because you had a second move, and the second move was a hook, in our opinion. Which was both the eye test as well as the data would suggest that happened.

“It’s hard to hide from the data. Then he put a competitor at risk. Denny took a hard hit, one of the hardest hits I think he’s had in this Next Gen car. There was a line that was crossed, in our opinion.”

NASCAR president explained how Austin Dillon ‘crossed the line’ leading to Richmond penalty

“We’re not demolition derby,” NASCAR president Steve Phelps said about Austin Dillon’s conduct at Richmond.

Austin Dillon and Richard Childress Racing are still planning to make a final appeal to overturn NASCAR’s penalty against the No. 3 Chevrolet driver after their first attempt was denied Wednesday by the National Motorsports Appeals Panel.

Dillon, as you may recall, caused quite a bit of controversy a couple weeks ago at Richmond Raceway when, on the final overtime lap of the race, he first spun Joey Logano and then hooked Denny Hamlin to take the checkered flag.

NASCAR penalized Dillon and the team in a number of ways, including preventing the August 11 win from making Dillon eligible for the postseason, which a win normally automatically does. Should the final appeal be denied, Dillon would still need a win to make the playoffs.

NASCAR president Steve Phelps recently shared the governing body’s take on the wreck, the penalty and the future implications of both while talking to Kevin Harvick on the Happy Hour Podcast. The interview was recorded before the appeal was heard, according to Fox Sports’ Bob Pockrass.

RELATED: Kyle Busch has spicy words for Joey Logano after Austin Dillon wrecked him at Richmond

Phelps emphasized the need for safety as the sport evolves, but he also explained that it’s difficult to know and instruct drivers on where the line is between hard racing and unnecessary dangerous moves.

He told Harvick:

“I’ve heard from drivers over the years, ‘I don’t know where the line is. Tell me where the line is. Can you show me the line?’ I can’t show you the line, but you will know when it has been crossed, right? So if you hook someone to going 170 miles per hour on a mile-and-a-half track, you have crossed the line, and we’re going to park you. And so we’ve been consistent. We’ve had two of those. Do we want to do that? We don’t! But we need to make sure that we are keeping our drivers safe, and when you have a situation like that, it’s not safe.

“I think, as we were looking at, again, the data and what happened — it happened so quickly — but you had two incidents in a split-second right. Turn 3 had an incident. Turn 4, you had an incident, and then the race was concluded. I think the bump-and-run or slam-and-run or whatever it was, right — I won’t suggest that there wouldn’t have been a penalty. I have no idea, right? Because you had a second move, and the second move was a hook, in our opinion, right? Which was both the eye test as well as the data would suggest that’s what happened. It’s hard to hide from the data, right? And then he put a competitor also at risk, right? Denny took a hard hit, one of the hardest hits I think he’s had in this Next Gen car. And there was a line that was crossed, in our opinion.”

When Harvick brought up the possibility of NASCAR issuing penalties like this immediately after the race, Phelps said “it’s something we’ll explore,” including options of a one-lap penalty or a 15-second penalty for a driver and team.

But, as he also noted, unless it’s urgent or for safety, NASCAR doesn’t typically like to make rule changes mid-season.

The NASCAR president also looked ahead at the rest of the regular season — there are currently two races remaining at Daytona International Speedway and Darlington Raceway — and the 10-race playoffs. He speculated about what could have happened had NASCAR not penalized Dillon and the No. 3 team.

Phelps added:

“If we hadn’t penalized it, then I think what we would see over the next 12 weeks would look significantly different. And 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, I think we would have opened ourselves up for a mess, honestly.”

Phelps is probably spot-on with that one.

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Dillon remaining tight-lipped amid Richmond appeal

Austin Dillon doesn’t currently have the playoff spot he thought he’d earned with the aggressive moves that crashed Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin to secure him a win at Richmond Raceway. But the 2018 Daytona 500 winner has no regrets and a simple …

Austin Dillon doesn’t currently have the playoff spot he thought he’d earned with the aggressive moves that crashed Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin to secure him a win at Richmond Raceway. But the 2018 Daytona 500 winner has no regrets and a simple message to his detractors.

“You don’t hate the player,” he told NBC Sports during an interview after Saturday’s Cup Series qualifying was rained out. “You hate the game.”

In this case, the ‘game’ is NASCAR’s win-and-in playoff system – a unique championship format where a single victory at any stage of the regular season can lock a driver into one of the 16 playoff spots to chase the title over the final 10 races.

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Entering Richmond 32nd in the points with four races left before the playoffs, Dillon was desperate to lock himself into the postseason field with a win. He appeared poised to do just that, but a late caution and slow restart opened the door for Logano to snag the top spot from Dillon in overtime. So over the final half-lap of action, Dillon did whatever it took to secure a win – sending Logano spinning from behind with a deep dive into Turn 3 and catching the right-rear of Hamlin’s No. 11 when he tried to take advantage and pass them both off Turn 4.

It was enough to get Dillon the win. NASCAR didn’t disqualify him from the victory, but did deem the move over the line and stripped Dillon and his No. 3 team of the playoff perks and giving them 25-point penalties in the drivers’ and owners’ championships. Spotter Brandon Benesch was also suspended three races for telling Dillon to wreck Hamlin coming to the line.

Richard Childress Racing (RCR) is currently appealing the decision. In the meantime, Dillon has been tight-lipped. He hasn’t talked to Logano or Hamlin and is saving his emotions and plans for the appeal.

“I’ve got to be careful with what I give out right now for the appeal process, because it’s going to be like a trial, it really is,” Dillon said. “I wish everybody could see it, television, would be cool to be in there. Because I haven’t really given my entire story of the game yet.

“I feel like Denny did a really good job on his podcast, giving his side of the story adamantly this week. A couple extra podcasts than he normally does. For us, I also listened to his podcast when he talked about the appeal process and how tough it is.

“I’m going to do my best to get RCR in the playoffs where they need to be, where they deserve to be currently. From there I will give all the media and everybody else my exact feelings after that’s all said, done and over with.“

While he’s keeping his strategies close to the vest, Dillon did take a moment to address Logano in the interview. The two-time Cup champ was furious after being spun at Richmond, performing an angry burnout down pit road – a move that later cost him $50,000 to a NASCAR fine – and giving incendiary quotes about Dillon in post-race interviews.

Dillon said it was nothing personal in Michigan.

“I’m sorry for the situation that he was in,” Dillon said. “It didn’t matter if it was Joey or anybody, I was going to do my best to get my team to victory lane. The situation on pit road after the race, you know a lot of things were said in the heat of the moment from him about my family and my belief in Christ, even. (But) for me, I forgive him.”

More than anything, Dillon drove home that he has no regrets – something he’s picked up from the two drivers he scorned in Virginia.

“I’ve learned a lot from Joey and Denny over the years,” he said. “They don’t have any regrets in what they do on the race track. I can’t, either. I don’t feel that way. I’m not going to say I regret anything, because I went to sleep and felt good about everything I had to do for me and my team.

“I have gone to sleep some nights, staying up until 3 or 4 in the morning, wondering what I could have done differently. In this situation, I don’t know what I could have done.”

Kyle Busch has spicy words for Joey Logano after Austin Dillon wrecked him at Richmond

Kyle Busch still has no love for Joey Logano: “Be mindful of what you do, I guess. It’s always going to come back on you.”

Nearly a week later, everyone around NASCAR is still talking about last Sunday’s wild finish at Richmond in the Cook Out 400.

In case you missed it, Austin Dillon – desperate to win the race and grab a playoff spot – ran into the back of Joey Logano’s No. 22 car coming out of the final turns, spinning him into the wall. In the very next moment, Dillon then clipped the rear right panel of Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 car, sending him to the wall too. Dillon went on to win the race, his first in nearly two years, behind some very aggressive driving that was polarizing among fans and drivers alike – celebrated by some and widely criticized by others.

Since then, NASCAR penalized Dillon by ruling that his win would not count towards playoff eligibility – which Dillon is appealing. It also fined Logano for his actions after the race, where he spun the tires of his car down pit road in front of Dillon’s No. 3 pit box.

On Saturday at qualifying for the FireKeepers Casino 400 in Michigan, reporters caught up with Kyle Busch who offered his thoughts on the whole scene. If there was one thing that came out crystal clear, it’s that Busch still has no love for Logano.

“There’s a lot of guys that have done some desperate things to get wins even when they’re not desperate. The one that had it happen to him is probably the one that’s done it the most that doesn’t need to do it. I guess his comments – he can be calling himself that… Be mindful of what you do, I guess. It’s always going to come back on you. YouTube is there for not all positives.”

Simply put, Busch could’ve just said: what goes around comes around.

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA – AUGUST 11: Austin Dillon, driver of the #3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet, and Joey Logano, driver of the #22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, race during the NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway on August 11, 2024 in Richmond, Virginia. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

Busch, of course, is no stranger to aggressive driving or controversy himself. After the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro this year he got into a fistfight with Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

It’s also worth noting two things: First, Busch is a teammate of Dillon’s at Richard Childress Racing. And second, he has a history with Logano, getting into a pit road kerfuffle with him in 2017 in Las Vegas after Logano wrecked him.

Earlier this week, Dillon told Dale Earnhardt Jr. that Busch congratulated him after the race in Richmond:

“He leaned down in the window and I said, ‘Man, that got wild.’ And he said, ‘It doesn’t matter, you won it either way. You were the best car, and you dominated,’ which means a lot to me.”

Engines fire up for the FireKeepers Casino 400 on Sunday at 2:30 p.m.

Hamlin is first in the starting grid after qualifying, Dillon is 10th, and Busch and Logano are nestled together at 13th and 14th. Stay tuned for any more potential fireworks between the drivers.

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Drivers weigh in on ramifications of Dillon’s playoff penalty

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. …

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.”

Dillon stripped of playoff eligibility from Richmond win

Austin Dillon has been stripped of the NASCAR Cup Series playoff eligibility that came with his victory at Richmond Raceway. NASCAR announced the penalty Wednesday after reviewing the finish of Sunday night’s race where Dillon made contact with Joey …

Austin Dillon has been stripped of the NASCAR Cup Series playoff eligibility that came with his victory at Richmond Raceway.

NASCAR announced the penalty Wednesday after reviewing the finish of Sunday night’s race where Dillon made contact with Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin. Dillon spun Logano in Turn 3 on the final lap of overtime in the Cook Out 400 and right-hooked Hamlin off Turn 4. He was 32nd in the championship standings going into the weekend.

Dillon does keep the victory despite it not counting toward the postseason. The No. 3 Richard Childress Racing team was also docked 25 points in both the owners’ and drivers’ championship standings for the incident.

Richard Childress Racing also lost the eligibility for the owner’s championship from the penalty.

Additionally, Brandon Benesch, Dillon’s spotter, has been suspended for the next three races. Benesch instructed Dillon to “wreck him” as Hamlin came to his inside in the final corner.

NASCAR also fined Joey Logano for his post-race actions. A frustrated Logano came down pit road and throttled up near NASCAR officials and team members, including those of Dillon’s crew who were making their way to the frontstretch to celebrate with the winning driver.

NASCAR revokes Austin Dillon’s automatic playoff berth after Richmond

NASCAR has taken away Austin Dillon’s automatic playoff berth after his actions at Richmond Raceway in August 2024.

NASCAR has laid the hammer down on [autotag]Austin Dillon[/autotag] and Richard Childress Racing. On Wednesday afternoon, NASCAR announced that it has revoked Dillon’s automatic playoff berth due to his actions at the end of the Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway. The No. 3 team will keep the win, but it can’t be used for the Driver’s or Owner’s Championship.

This is a massive decision that will change the outcome of who makes the 2024 NASCAR playoffs. Instead of being locked in, Dillon will have to win again to be one of the 16 drivers fighting for a Cup Series championship. Dillon and the No. 3 team have also been penalized 25 driver and owner points due to the incident.

Chris Buescher and Ross Chastain are now tied for the final playoff spot in the Cup Series, but with three races left, the pressure will be on Dillon to find his way back into the hunt. It will take a win at Michigan, Daytona, or Darlington, which are tracks that Dillon has run well. As of now, Richard Childress Racing has not appealed, but it seems likely to happen at some point.

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Austin Dillon responds to Joey Logano calling him out at Richmond in 2024

Austin Dillon responds to Joey Logano calling him out at Richmond in 2024. Find out what Dillon said about Logano’s comments!

[autotag]Austin Dillon[/autotag] shocked the NASCAR world on Sunday night, but it didn’t come without some controversy. Dillon led with two laps to go before a caution and had a bad restart in overtime. The driver of the No. 3 car dumped Joey Logano in Turn 3 on the final lap and proceeded to take out Denny Hamlin. Both drivers were extremely upset with Dillon after the event.

In fact, Dillon responded to Logano on Kevin Harvick’s podcast, Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour, after the latter called him out on pit road. Also, the Richard Childress Racing driver quoted Richard Childress regarding the possibility of Logano retaliating.

“[Joey Logano] threw some low blows in there,” Dillon said. “Obviously [he was] frustrated in the moment, but the two guys that I got into it with have done that a lot that I’ve learned from on the last lap of the races themselves. I’ve heard Joey’s interviews, ‘How bad do you want it? You got to do whatever it takes.’ I’ve seen him do it at Martinsville and different places on the last corner. So this time, he was a victim of it. Sometimes, it happens.”

“He’s got a lot more wins than I do. If he retaliates, he retaliates. My grandfather [Richard Childress] said, ‘You might kick a dog, but he’ll bite back.'”

Dillon was also not pleased with Logano for his actions on pit road after the event, as the No. 22 car smoked his tires near the No. 3 crew and his family. Dillon and Logano are both likely to receive penalties from NASCAR this week. However, this development between the two drivers isn’t expected to go away anytime soon.

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NASCAR ‘likely’ to penalize Austin Dillon for actions at Richmond in 2024

NASCAR is “likely” to penalize Austin Dillon for his actions at Richmond in 2024. Could NASCAR take away Dillon’s victory?

[autotag]Austin Dillon[/autotag] needed a win to make the 2024 NASCAR playoffs, and Richmond Raceway was his opportunity. Dillon was leading with two laps to go before a caution, got behind Joey Logano on the restart, and crossed the finish line first. Dillon dumped Logano and made contact with Denny Hamlin; however, NASCAR is expected to lay down a punishment.

According to FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass, Dillon will “likely” face penalties from NASCAR over his actions at the end of the Cup Series race at Richmond. NASCAR left the door open to take away Dillon’s victory, but there is not much precedent in the past. Pockrass mentioned the possibility of a fine for his actions.

Dillon and Logano are both expected to be penalized by NASCAR, as the latter smoked his tires on pit road near a large group of people. It’s unclear how big a fine would be for each driver. NASCAR is expected to release its penalty report on Tuesday or Wednesday, including Dillon and Logano’s likely penalties.

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