Sunday night’s race at Richmond Raceway had one hell of a finish that seriously affected the NASCAR playoffs. The race ended on a green white checkered finish that saw Joey Logano jump out to an early lead as the white flag flew. Coming into turn 3 and 4, Austin Dillon rammed into the back of Logano and spun him out to take the lead. Denny Hamlin then snuck under the two drivers and looked like he would steal the win away from both of them.
But not so fast. Dillon then drove down the track to take out Hamlin before the checkered flag to win the race, end his 68-race winless streak, and clinch his spot in the NASCAR playoffs. Or so he thought.
Playoff Eligibility Revoked
Today, NASCAR said that Austin Dillon’s win on Sunday will NOT count towards his playoff eligibility. He will still be counted as the race winner, but he is no longer locked into the NASCAR playoffs. It was said that he violated Section 12.3.2.1.b of the NASCAR Rule Book about playoff eligibility that states: “Race finishes must be unencumbered by violation(s) of the NASCAR Rules or other action(s) detrimental to stock car auto racing or NASCAR as determined in the sole discretion of NASCAR.”
Dillon was also docked 25 points in both the drivers’ and owners’ standings. This’ll drop Dillon from 26th to 31st in the points standings. And if the playoff eligibility and deduction of points were not enough, Dillon’s spotter Brandon Benesch was also suspended for his comments over the radio telling Dillon to “wreck him” to win the race.
In NASCAR’s new revamped playoff format introduced back in 2014, if a driver won a race during the regular season they would be “locked in” to the playoffs for that season. This paved the way for things like what happened last Sunday to happen often. But no penalty like this has been enforced yet. This shows that NASCAR is not messing around regarding drivers wrecking other drivers to make the playoffs.
