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Friday Faceoff: Which JRM Prospect Will Have the Better Career?

Was the penalty issued to Austin Dillon appropriate?

Mike Neff: Due to the fact he made the statement that the contact with Denny Hamlin was a reaction, yes, it is appropriate. The contact with Joey Logano is how people race now, so there was nothing wrong then. Based on the overhead shot, it looked like Dillon was turning away from Hamlin when the contact occurred. Had he not said the contact was a reaction, he would have had an argument. 

James Krause: No, but not in the sense that it was too harsh or not harsh enough. In a broader sense, NASCAR tied its own hands for the future with its handling of Richmond Raceway’s finish. It didn’t strip Dillon of the win outright. So it’s fine, right? Well, no, because NASCAR said it can’t count toward the playoffs. So the playoff format that’s made NASCAR what it is (for better or worse) went from “winning is everything” to “winning is everything unless you winning means doing whatever Austin Dillon just did” in one weekend. By fence-sitting on what to do about last week’s finish, the league has outright undermined its own playoff system. The win should have stood or been stripped entirely, no in-between.

Amy Henderson: Almost, but not quite. NASCAR should have taken the win, because while the playoff implications hurt Dillon, drivers who don’t make the playoffs or who get eliminated have nothing to race for during those 10 races except wins. If they keep the trophy, why not go bowling for racecars? For Dillon, the penalty was warranted. If he’d at least made an attempt to move Logano and then resorted to a shove up the racetrack? That’s totally acceptable. Going after him with the sole intent of wrecking him, not so much, and hooking Hamlin was over the top. A right-rear hook is never an acceptable move. Period.

Samuel Stubbs: Yes. NASCAR managed to take away nearly all of the benefits of winning a race without taking the (mostly deserved) win away. 

Phil Allaway: He should have disqualified at minimum and suspended at worst. NASCAR has the reputation on the world stage of a sanctioning body that either cannot or doesn’t want to properly officiate its own races. It looks downright sad at times. I would have put my foot down and told Dillon that he needed to take a(nother) vacation. There’s nothing wrong with contact, but you can’t intentionally wreck two different drivers to win a race.

See also
NASCAR Mailbox: Austin Dillon Back Outside the Playoffs

Dillon’s spotter can be heard saying “wreck him” at the finish last week. If a driver does something similar after being told to do so, should that team member be disciplined?

Henderson: Yeah, the punishment for the spotter was warranted. You have a guy in the car whose emotions are running high because you lost the lead and had the race won before the caution, he’s already not in a place where rational thought is easy. Encouraging him to do something stupid in that moment is a bad idea. Plus, it’s hard to say something wasn’t intentional when a team member tells you outright to do it. The driver might still make a choice they’ll regret later, but it’s their job to decide, not the spotter.

Allaway: Yes, and Brandon Benesch was suspended for three races, as he should have been. That’s ludicrous and should never be allowed. The audio getting played on USA is not what got him suspended. Believe me, even if it didn’t make TV, NASCAR would have known about it.

Stubbs: Yes, though context is needed; many crew members have said this over the years, though Benesch’s radio was clearly not to be taken lightly. 

Krause: Yes. NASCAR has been disciplining drivers for saying they would wreck people on purpose for decades. Just ask Kevin Harvick about the Martinsville Speedway NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race in 2002 where he got parked for saying he’d “go get” Coy Gibbs.  “The lesson is, ‘don’t tell anybody you’re going to do that,’” Dr. Jerry Punch said on the ESPN broadcast. Same rule should apply to team members and owners, especially when you consider they make those calls from the comfort of pit box or spotter’s stand and not, you know, a racecar that can hit things at high speeds.

Neff: The problem with the spotter’s comment is that Hamlin was already 45 degrees sideways over the nose of Dillon’s car. The driver is in charge of the car and whatever they do with the wheel is the driver’s responsibility,  no matter who says what in their ear.

JR Motorsports has two highly touted prospects in Connor Zilisch and Carson Kvapil. Which do you envision having the more successful career?

Stubbs: They’re both incredible young talents, but Connor Zilisch‘s sportscar experience will be very beneficial with how the Cup cars drive now. Both can make it to the Cup Series, however.

Neff: Carson Kvapil has already had an outstanding career at the CARS Tour level. He is poised to have a very successful career for many years to come. Zilisch has also run well at the ARCA Menards Series level. He could very well win championships in the future.

Henderson: This is a cop-out, but both of them are extremely talented young drivers with bright futures. JRM is going to need plenty of space to display some more trophies in a year or two.

Allaway: This is a tough one if you’re limiting things to just NASCAR. Both drivers are talented, but Kvapil’s background would trend toward him being more limited.  He’ll be successful in NASCAR regardless of what happens, but outside of NASCAR, it might be a little more slim pickings for him. For Zilisch, we’re talking about a driver who has won in six different series this year alone (ARCA, ARCA Menards Series East, CARS, Mazda MX-5 Cup, Trans-Am TA2, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s LMP2 class) in multiple disciplines. They might end up being pretty equal in the context of NASCAR, but Zilisch has already accomplished more than Kvapil outside of stock cars and has more potential to add more hardware. 

Krause: Based just on what I’ve seen from their runs in NASCAR, Kvapil can step into a full-time ride and instantly be a contender. In six NASCAR Xfinity Series starts, he has just one finish worse than 12th. He’s exceled on short tracks as expected but has also put in solid runs at Nashville Superspeedway and Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Zilisch is a fantastic road racer, but it’ll take a little more time for him to be competitive on ovals at the level of Trucks or Xfinity.

See also
Dropping the Hammer: NASCAR Reaps What It Sows With Austin Dillon Fiasco

None of the top 10 drivers in the national ARCA Series points have won a race this season. Is that an issue?

Allaway: To an extent, yes. It shows that the drivers who are running full time are either down on talent, down on equipment or both. However, much of the reasoning why this has happened is that two-thirds of the races have been won by part-time drivers (Zilisch and William Sawalich) who are only part time since they were 17 when the season started. The others were plate races and races won by drivers that have primarily competed in the Truck Series this year. I don’t expect this to continue much longer. In fact, someone like Andres Perez could win at Michigan International Speedway.

Henderson: Nope. A full-season title where a driver scores the most points is always legit.

Neff: Not at all. It is great when the racing is so competitive that the best are competing for top fives rather than wins.

Stubbs: Yes. ARCA-whacking takes away from the point of ARCA being a developmental series, as well as taking away some of the shine of the championship. 

Krause: Yes. There are various factors that go into why we don’t see as many full-time ARCA drivers in the series’ top rides. One of its biggest consequences is we don’t get to see a proper points battle with the title contenders competing at the front. The championship battle will always take a backseat to that week’s hot prospects in cars fielded by Joe Gibbs Racing, Venturini Motorsports or Pinnacle Racing Group every week. In a way, ARCA has essentially become the modern home for Buschwhacking.

About the author

What is it that Mike Neff doesn’t do? The writer, radio contributor and racetrack announcer coordinates the site’s local short track coverage, hitting up Saturday Night Specials across the country while tracking the sport’s future racing stars. The writer for our signature Cup post-race column, Thinkin’ Out Loud (Mondays) also sits down with Cup crew chiefs to talk shop every Friday with Tech Talk. Mike announces several shows each year for the Good Guys Rod and Custom Association. He also pops up everywhere from PRN Pit Reporters and the Press Box with Alan Smothers to SIRIUS XM Radio. He has announced at tracks all over the Southeast, starting at Millbridge Speedway. He's also announced at East Lincoln Speedway, Concord Speedway, Tri-County Speedway, Caraway Speedway, and Charlotte Motor Speedway.

James Krause joined Frontstretch in March 2024 as a contributor. Krause was born and raised in Illinois and graduated from Northern Illinois University. He currently works in La Crosse, Wisconsin as a local sports reporter, including local short track racing. Outside of racing, Krause loves to keep up with of football, music, anime and video games.

Amy is an 20-year veteran NASCAR writer and a six-time National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) writing award winner, including first place awards for both columns and race coverage. As well as serving as Photo Editor, Amy writes The Big 6 (Mondays) after every NASCAR Cup Series race. She can also be found working on her bi-weekly columns Holding A Pretty Wheel (Tuesdays) and Only Yesterday (Wednesdays). A New Hampshire native whose heart is in North Carolina, Amy’s work credits have extended everywhere from driver Kenny Wallace’s website to Athlon Sports. She can also be heard weekly as a panelist on the Hard Left Turn podcast that can be found on AccessWDUN.com's Around the Track page.

Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.

Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.

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