Was NASCAR right in brandishing a severe punishment to Austin Dillon and RCR following the last race carnage at Richmond? This has been a hot topic of debate among the NASCAR community since NASCAR decided to revoke Dillon’s automatic playoffs qualification after his win last Sunday.

Usually, the governing body relies on past precedents or rulings to hand out their verdict. But, this time around, they made an example out of Austin Dillon, drawing a new line that has now set a new precedent. And going by the words of Front Row Motorsports star Michael McDowell, the entire Cup Series garage believes that NASCAR’s judgment was a step in the right direction for the sport.

McDowell feels NASCAR was spot on with their ruling over Austin Dillon’s controversial win

Usually, drivers are at odds with each other on a range of topics regarding NASCAR racing. But it looks like most of them weren’t content with how the Richmond race ended. It was as if a stock car race turned into a demolition derby, and Austin Dillon was the only one calling the shots. He ran Joey Logano into the wall and then right-hooked Denny Hamlin, advancing to the knockout stages of the competition.

“So I’m okay with the decision that they made, and I’m okay with the process they went about it. I think we all kinda of know what’s gonna be penalized? What’s not gonna be penalized? But the fact of the matter is what everybody watching, and all the drivers, I would say, are gonna agree that Sunday’s race was probably too far.” McDowell said this via SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

NASCAR’s Senior Vice President of the competition, Elton Sawyer, explained the grounds on which they came to this conclusion. Stating that race car drivers know where the line is. Interestingly, this was backed by McDowell as well: “I think we all kinda know what’s gonna be penalized, what’s not gonna be penalized. But the fact of the matter is what everybody watching and all the drivers, I would say, are gonna agree that Sunday’s race was probably too far.” The FRM driver added.

Talk about the fine line and precedent of NASCAR stripping a win; this verdict was indeed monumental. But they have resorted to taking away wins from drivers in the playoffs era. Ironically, it was Joey Logano at Richmond Raceway who saw his playoffs hopes slip off his hands.

Joey Logano failed to make the playoffs in 2017 after NASCAR’s penalty

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Call it irony or coincidence, Joey Logano also lost his playoff eligibility while competing in a Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway. This incident happened back in 2017 when the Penske star crossed the finish line first during the spring race at the 0.750-mile short-track oval. This was Logano’s first win of the 2017 season, but like Austin Dillon, his celebrations were also cut short after a post-race inspection of his race car.

NASCAR decided to strip the Penske star of his automatic playoff qualification but allowed him to keep the trophy and the win. Not only that, but both the driver and team were docked 25 points. Despite 16 races left in the regular season, Logano was unable to get back into the victory and ultimately missed the playoffs on the back of the ruling that came at Richmond.

So it is fair to say that NASCAR had some sort of previous ruling to lean on while brandishing a heavy penalty to Austin Dillon and RCR this week.