RICHMOND, Va. (/WGHPAP) — The National Motorsports Appeals Panel upheld the penalty against Austin Dillon and the Richard Childress Racing No. 3 team after a Richmond Raceway crash on the last lap, according to NASCAR’s website.
Dillon won for the first time in nearly two years in the Cup Series on Aug. 11, but the race seemed out of reach before he spun Joey Logano out of the way and then sent Denny Hamlin into the wall as well — all in the final few seconds.
Once the initial celebration ended, Dillon had quite a bit to answer for.
The panel agreed with the ruling issued by NASCAR that Dillon’s actions during the race warranted being penalized.
His Richmond win stands, but his eligibility for the Cup Series Playoffs was revoked.
The reactions from other drivers to Dillon’s maneuver were unsurprising. Logano was livid. Hamlin said the collision blew his shoulder out. Even Bubba Wallace — tangentially involved because Dillon leapfrogged him in the playoff race — tossed a few barbs the winner’s way.
There’s no denying the excitement of the wild finish. The 400-lap race had been pretty quiet for the first 398 or so. There wasn’t a single unplanned caution until a wreck involving Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Ryan Preece sent the race to overtime and likely robbed Dillon of a much less controversial win.
Until then, the race’s biggest story involved tire strategy. It was the first time in a points-paying Cup race that teams had multiple tire options, and that created some choices to analyze. It was an interesting topic but not a particularly thrilling one.
Then Dillon bumped two veteran drivers out of the way to win.
