NASCAR Strips Austin Dillon of Cup Playoff Spot, Lets Him Keep Richmond Win

After three days of deliberations, studying SMT data, audio and video, NASCAR ruled Wednesday that Austion Dillon will keep the victory he recorded Sunday night at Richmond Raceway, but the win won’t give him a ticket into the playoffs.

Controversy immediately surrounded the victory due to Dillon hitting Joey Logano’s Ford and spinning him out of the lead in turns three and four on the final lap, and then clipping Denny Hamlin’s Toyota in the right rear and turning him into the wall as he charged toward the checkered flag. Several drivers and crew chiefs voiced concern after the race as to how Dillon’s actions might affect racing in the playoffs if his actions weren’t punished. They voiced concern that it could result in competitors hitting each other intentionally to knock someone out of a round or the championship.

Shortly after Sunday night’s race, NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition Elton Sawyer said, “That last lap was awful close to the line.”

That opinion changed on Wednesday.

“We want them to be able to race hard … but we also want them to understand, and I believe that each and every one of them understands, that this crossed the line,” said Sawyer, a former driver. “They know where the line is. They’ve done this a long time. It’s been a few years since I did it, but I promise you, I knew where the line was.

“Hard NASCAR racing, little bump, little tire mark, moving a guy up out of the groove to win a race. We’ve done that for years. What happened on Sunday night crossed the line.”

In addition to Dillon not being playoff eligible, he and team owner Richard Childress lost 25 points each in the driver and owner standings. Dillon’s spotter, Brandon Benesch also has been suspended for the next three races—the rest of the regular season—for his actions during the final lap. Audio on Dillon’s in-car camera has Benesch saying, “Coming down, down, down. Go! Wreck him!” as Dillion spins Logano, and then “Come on! Come on! Wreck him!” as he clips Hamlin.

Logano was also fined $50,000 for his actions on pit road following the race.

Sawyer declined to say if it was the incident between Dillon and Hamlin that resulted in NASCAR’s decision to keep him from the playoffs due to wanting “to protect the integrity of the appeal process.” Instead, he said they viewed everything that occurred, starting in turn three on the final lap, to the finish line.

“The No. 1 thing is we want to make sure that we are protecting the integrity of our playoffs as well as our championship when we get to Phoenix,” Sawyer said. “That’s not the way we want our races to end. That’s not the way we want to decide a champion.

“We’ve had races this year where we’ve had drivers that have made contact, went on to win the race, which is totally fine. We don’t want to be in the middle of officiating every contact that the drivers are making on the race track. This particular case … crossed the line and that’s why we looked into it much deeper.”

Stripping Dillon of his victory was considered by NASCAR, but Sawyer said there wasn’t a rule that provided for it.

Also, Bubba Wallace and Chase Elliott were suspended for a race for hooking a competitor in a car’s right rear and turning him head-on into the wall, both at 1.5-mile tracks. Wallace executed the move on Kyle Larson at Las Vegas in 2022, while Elliott did it to Hamlin at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2023. Sawyer said that situation was examined, but since NASCAR took the playoff berth from the No. 3 car, suspending Dillon wasn’t warranted.