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‘I’m Happy’: Drivers Find Austin Dillon Penalty Fair

BROOKLYN, Mich. –– Unless you’ve been living under a rock the last seven days, you’re probably aware of what’s been going on in the NASCAR world this week.

But in case you’ve been under said rock, you’ve missed a lot.

Austin Dillon won last Sunday’s (Aug. 11) Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway in controversial fashion after sailing his car into the final corner fast enough to spin leader Joey Logano, before coming back down the track and catching Denny Hamlin‘s right rear, putting the latter in the wall.

The win cemented a playoff spot for Dillon, who entered Richmond way down in 32nd in points. That was until Wednesday (Aug. 14), when NASCAR stripped Dillon of his playoff eligibility while letting him keep the win.

See also
Austin Dillon's Richmond Win Won't Count Toward Cup Playoffs

In addition, Dillon and Richard Childress Racing were docked 25 driver and owner points, and Dillon’s spotter Brandon Benesch, who was heard on the radio telling Dillon to wreck Hamlin, was suspended three races.

RCR made it very clear that it plans to appeal the penalty.

While Dillon and RCR feel the penalty is unjust, the same cannot be said for his fellow competitors.

Speaking with reporters prior to practice and qualifying at Michigan International Speedway, drivers voiced their support in penalizing Dillon. The big theme of reasoning was that if NASCAR had let it stand, then it would send a message that driving over-aggressively is okay and would open a can of worms when it came to close battles for wins.

“I’m happy,” said Christopher Bell. “I’m happy that he isn’t in the playoffs, because I do think that … if [NASCAR] wouldn’t have said anything, then it would have opened the can of worms that’s saying ‘Hey, anything goes.’ So I’m happy that they did tell us that that’s not gonna be accepted.”

“I’m happy they did something,” echoed Bell’s teammate Martin Truex Jr. “I just don’t agree with that kind of racing. I understand the format and everybody just blames that. You still have to drive the car.

“Anyone can drive through the guy in front of them. Anyone can do it. Takes no skill, no talent. At all. So I’m glad they did something so guys will be a little more hesitant to do that.”

‘The system’ that Truex refers to is the playoff format, which encourages doing whatever a driver has to do to win and get into the playoffs.

“You have to look at the playoff format and realize how much more important a win is,” said Logano’s teammate Austin Cindric. “But also, I think from a sporting standpoint and an integrity standpoint, you have to understand what’s right and what’s acceptable, and what’s not.”

Since the incident, there has been constant chatter about where ‘the line’ is. ‘The line’ in question is an undefined idea of ‘how far is too far’ when it comes to racing aggressively, especially since the ‘win and you’re in’ format was introduced in 2014.

“I’m kind of more surprised that it didn’t happen earlier in the playoff format, to be honest,” said Brad Keselowski, who believes the penalty gives more clarity on how far drivers can go to win a race. “They made a good attempt at putting a line in the sand. We’ll see how that sticks.”

“It’s different for everybody,” said Tyler Reddick about the line. “But I’m never gonna right hook somebody to win a race. That’s for sure.”

“I think everyone knows where the respectful line is,” said Todd Gilliland. “But it’s kind of, if you’re willing to cross it and what the circumstances are.

“To me I thought the penalties kind of fit what happened.”

Gilliland’s Craftsman Truck Series teammate Layne Riggs fell victim to a rough driving penalty back at Nashville Superspeedway. Riggs was held two laps after he and Stefan Parsons battled back and forth for several laps, ending with Riggs putting Parsons in the wall.

Gilliland and Riggs’ other teammate Michael McDowell argued that the penalties were different circumstances.

“That’s what so hard about racing,” McDowell said. “It’s so subjective. […] [Riggs and Parsons’ incident was] not the last-lap, last-corner, last-ditch effort. It went on and on, and on and on. There was plenty of time to say, ‘Enough’s enough, and we’re gonna diffuse this.'”

However McDowell mentioned that curbing such driving in the lower series could help create more respectful Cup Series racing down the road.

“If you’re a young kid and you have aspirations and you’re watching us on Sundays … how we race and how we go about our business, I think will affect how they view their career. What they’re allowed to do and what they can’t do.”

Reddick’s teammate Bubba Wallace recalled an incident in the Cook Out Summer Shootout legend car series, where he was wrecked twice by the same competitor. When Wallace confronted the driver, they said that that’s just how the field races.

“I was like, ‘Holy sh*t, that’s not the right answer,'” said Wallace. “And then you see stuff like that on Sundays [in Cup], you know? It’s like, ‘Y’all do it there,’ and it’s like, yeah, you’ve got a point.”

Hamlin suggested a ‘tap out rule’ be introduced, where if the driver spins the leader, regardless of intent, the aggressor is sent to the rear. He cited the zMAX CARS Tour race Friday night (Aug. 16) at Ace Speedway as proof it could work. At Ace, multiple drivers were sent to the rear for spinning whoever was in the lead.

“It’s just an easy call,” Hamlin said. “It really is an easy call. But you have to give the people in the tower liberty to do it. And hopefully, we’ve created a new precedent where, if you spin the leader in such an egregious manner, you get put to the last car on the lead lap, or whatever it might be.”

Josh Berry, a short track racer by heart, echoed Hamlin’s sentiment to an extent.

“When you’re growing up learning how to race, pretty much every series imaginable […] if you spin the leader out, really at all, especially on the last lap, you take a penalty for it,” Berry said. “NASCAR’s never really been that way. So it’s a fine line of getting away from what they’ve always done vs. deciding to interfere.”

Logano, who received a $50,000 fine for burning out on pit road near a group of people after the race, said that it was imperative to get penalize Dillon accordingly so something like this wouldn’t happen in the championship race at Phoenix Raceway. He also emphasized that penalties coming sooner than 72 hours after a race would be beneficial too.

With nearly everybody in support of Dillon’s penalty in some way, shape or form, there was one thing on people’s minds.

How does his teammate feel about all this?

See also
4 Burning Questions: Should Austin Dillon Have Been Stripped of His Win?

A polarizing driver himself for the way he races, Kyle Busch remained mum the entire week after the initial adrenaline of the race wore off and penalties were announced.

On Saturday (Aug. 17) he opened up on his thoughts.

“The precedent before that was [to] do what you gotta do to win the race,” Busch said. “And [Dillon] put it out there to where then NASCAR had to react. So that’s the unfortunate part of all that.

“There’s a right way to win races and there’s a wrong way to win races. 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 [Logano] is probably the one that’s done it the most, that doesn’t need to do it, you know? I guess his comments, he can be calling himself that.”

Busch then revisited a past incident Logano (a longtime rival of his) had with Peyton Sellers at the 2009 Toyota All-Star Showdown in the K&N Pro Series, where Logano sent his car way too deep into turn 3 on the final lap on purpose and smashed Sellers into the wall to take the victory.

However, Logano was subsequently disqualified moments later, giving Matt Kobyluck the win.

“Sh*t like that should never get you to the top level,” Busch said. “But it did.

“Be mindful of what you do, I guess. It’s always gonna come back on you.”

The appeal hearing for Dillon’s penalty will be sometime this week before the penultimate regular season race at Daytona International Speedway. Should the penalty be rescinded or amended to a lighter degree, it’s safe to say a majority of the garage will disagree with the ruling.

Which, if left unchecked, will make the championship race at Phoenix one to watch for arguably all the wrong reasons.

Frontstretch.com

Anthony Damcott joined Frontstretch in March 2022. Currently, he is an editor and co-authors Fire on Fridays (Fridays); he is also the primary Truck Series reporter/writer and serves as an at-track reporter, among many other duties he takes on for the site. A proud West Virginia Wesleyan College alum from Akron, Ohio, Anthony is now a grad student. He is a theatre actor and fight-choreographer-in-training in his free time.

You can keep up with Anthony by following @AnthonyDamcott on X.

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WD

Nascar created the “WWF” scenario and TV got what they want Its entertainment not racing Sad to say but it will happen again as nothing has really changed