The celebration has stopped at the Richard Childress Racing as NASCAR has given its verdict on the controversial race finish at the Richmond Raceway. Austin Dillon was eyeing his fifth win of the Cup series and a playoff spot. He was leading the last few laps of the race when a caution stood in his way. At the restart, Team Penske’s Joey Logano took the lead. However, Dillon was set to win by hook or by crook. He spun Logano and also wrapped in Denny Hamlin was tried to get ahead at the last moment.

Dillon’s win was hugely criticized and the NASCAR communities asked for the harshest of penalties. Finally, NASCAR has given its decision on the matter. Elton Sawyer, in a recent interview with Sirius XM NASCAR radio, spoke about how NASCAR wants to make sure that every driver understands the “line” that cannot be crossed. Especially while racing hard!

NASCAR sets a strong precedent

In recent times, NASCAR has awarded several penalties for intentional contact. A recent one that comes to mind is of Bubba Wallace, who on the Chicago street race bumped race winner Alex Bowman. Where Bubba suffered a hefty fine of $50,000. The situation at Richmond, however, is different for this one and hence has invited a different penalty. Austin Dillon will be allowed to keep his fifth victory. But that victory won’t mean anything as NASCAR has stripped him off of a playoff chance. Dillion, now, is back to square one as 25 points of his total were also deducted. Putting him back in the 31st position.

This is not the only penalty that the RCR team is facing. The #3 team’s spotter, Brandon Benesch, who on the radio asked Dillon to wreck Logano, was also penalized. He has been suspended from the next three races. Expectedly, the RCR team was upset with the penalties issued and refuted them. The team took to X to release a statement, which read, “Richard Childress Racing is very disappointed in NASCAR’s penalty against the No. 3 team. We do not agree with the decision that was made and plan to appeal.” Denny Hamlin was also quick to reply to this post. Taking a sly dig at the team, he wrote, “Not as disappointed as I was off turn 4.” This banter will go on as the series is at a crucial stage where every win and every point counts. This is why probably NASCAR took some time to come to a decision.

NASCAR’s vice president, Elton Sawyer, spoke about NASCAR’s reasons for penalizing racers at Richmond. According to Sawyer, NASCAR has always been about racing hard. Little bumping, tire marks, all this is acceptable. However, what is unacceptable is what happened at Richmond. Reiterating this, he said, “We are not looking to change how our drivers drive each other. We are looking to make sure that they understand that there is a limit, and there is a line. We feel like every one of them if you walk through those garages, you look at those drivers and you talk with them. They will understand where the line is. We’ve done that for years. What happened on Sunday night crossed the line.” 

A lot of lines were crossed on the race day at Richmond. Even Joey Logano crossed one. He went on pit lane, revved, and skidded his car in front of the RCR team as a display of aggression. The pit lane also had families of the team members and sponsors. This behavior by Logano wasn’t tolerated by NASCAR, either. They fined him $50,000 for that. As for Austin Dillon, he had no remorse for crossing the line that Elton Sawyer was talking about.

Austin Dillon had no remorse for his actions

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The Richmond race has shown a kind of carefree attitude by the RCR team. The owner of the team, Richard Childress, was okay with Austin Dillon wrecking Logano. After the radio conversation of his spotter went viral. Richard said, “Well, if he did [say it], spotter did a good job because it won him the race.” Richard Childress’s #3 racer also echoed the same words as he had no remorse for the incident.

Post the race, he had said, “I felt like with two [laps] to go, we were the fastest car, obviously at the straightway, and wrecked the guy. I hate to do that, but sometimes you just got to have it.” He went on to point out the hypocrisy displayed by Logano, speaking of how Logano has done the same in the past, too. He said, “I’ve seen him do it at Martinsville and in different places on the last corner. So this time, he was a victim of it. Sometimes, it happens.” 

However, does it really just “happens”? It was a deliberate wreck, which is unfair to the racer who has worked hard to gain the lead. Although Dillon continued with his carefree tone about the incident. On the Happy Hour episode with Kevin Harvick, where he was asked, what if Logano retaliates? To this, he said, “If he retaliates, he retaliates. My grandfather [Richard Childress] said, ‘You might kick a dog, but he’ll bite back.'”

In penalizing Dillon, NASCAR is probably trying to counter this very attitude of racers. Trying to make them realize that they cannot just get away with anything and everything. What do you think about the penalties imposed? Let us know in the comments below.