It looks like Austin Dillon’s 2024 season will be remembered for all the wrong reasons. In the Martinsville race, the #3 team indulged in unfair conduct on the racetrack, which manipulated the outcome of the NASCAR Cup Series race. What really took place?

William Byron and Christopher Bell were fighting for the last spot in Championship 4. At the final stages of the race, Byron was in the 5th position and Christopher Bell was in the 19th; this led to a 2-point gap between the two, with the #24 leading. However, with 14 laps to go, Denny Hamlin took 5th place, and the points gap was reduced to 1. But to Byron’s good fortune, in 7th place was Austin Dillon, followed by Ross Chastain in the 8th.

The two Chevy drivers blocked Brad Keselowski, keeping him in 9th place, as they knew that if Byron lost another spot, it would end his and team Chevy’s championship hopes. The two drivers at the very end of the race did not let anyone pass Byron in a blatant display of race manipulation. In fact, after the race, the radio conversation of the #3 and #1 teams made rounds of the internet, where it was audible that they were coordinating to aid the #24 car against Bell.

• On the radio, Austin Dillon’s crew chief, Justin Alexander, was heard saying to spotter Brandon Benesch, “The 24 is only 2 points to good right now. If we pass him, he’ll be out. He just can’t give up spots.”
• At this time, Dillion had Chastain tailing him and the radio conversation became more interesting. “Does he know the deal?” asked Alexander. And Benesch responded, “I’m trying to tell him. Justin can you tell the crew chief?”
• With 12 laps to go, Benesch once again could be heard questioning, “Does the #1 (Ross Chastain) crew chief know the deal?” 
• To which Alexander replied, “Yeah, he should.”
• However, things were a bit quiet on Chastin’s radio. With seven laps to go, the driver got to the outside of Byron’s car and that’s when his spotter, Brandon McReynolds, was heard commenting, “Nice and smart with the #24 here.” But post this, Chastin didn’t pull alongside Byron again.

This has led to NASCAR fining the #3 and #1 teams. Both Autisn Dillion and Ross Chastain have been docked 50 points and fined $100,000 each. While the 50-point loss has kept Chastain where he was (in 19th), Dillon has found himself going from 28th to 33rd in the points standings.

If the ranking continues to be the same post-Phoenix race, this would be #3’s worst season finish since debuting full-time in the Cup Series in 2014.

Interesting Fact: Earlier this year, at the Richmond race Dillon shoved Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin out of the way to win the race. While his win stood, the #3 was stripped of his playoff berth. And not just Dillon, it’s been an even worse season for his spotter, Brandon Benesch, who was suspended for three races for giving the command to wreck the #22 and #11.

But in the new controversy at Martinsville, even Bubba Wallace has faced a similar penalty, as he too, was accused of race manipulation in helping Christopher Bell. Bell, on the final stretch, surprisingly passed the #23 to tie the points. And a tie-in point was equivalent to the #20 progressing to Phoenix.

According to the NASCAR rule, the driver with a better finish in any of the three races in round 3 will go to the next round. And Bell had recently gotten a P2 in Las Vegas, making him the beneficiary of the rule. However, NASCAR has noted that Wallace suddenly slowed down to let Bell pass, leading to the #23 getting the fine.

While the Wallace faction denied this and said they had tire problems, they couldn’t back the claim in the NASCAR inspection. Ultimately, it was rendered useless as Bell was eliminated for attempting a ‘Hail Melon 2.0.’ at the end, and Byron made it to Phoenix. But it wasn’t just the drivers who were penalized; even their crew chiefs, spotters, and competition executives are facing heavy fines and penalties.

Teams involved in race manipulation are also penalized!

The race manipulation was clearly a team effort, and hence NASCAR believes that the penalty should also be shared by the teams. This has resulted in a $100,000 penalty for each of the three teams involved and a separate $100,000 for each of the drivers.

In fact, the crew chiefs, spotters, and competition executives will also have to miss out on the season finale race.

This list includes Dillon’s crew chief Justin Alexander, competition executive Keith Rodden, and spotter Brandon Benesch; Chastain’s crew chief Phil Surgen, competition executive Tony Lunders, and spotter Brandon McReynolds; And lastly Wallace’s crew chief, Bootie Barker, exec Dave Rogers, and spotter Freddie Kraft.

NASCAR’s vice president, Elton Sawyer, talked about how this was unacceptable and hence the entire team would face the brunt. After announcing the penalty, he said, “We did that in a way that we included team leadership in this one. It’s something we feel like we want to get our point across that it’s the responsibility of all of us – the team owners, the team leadership, as well as ourselves here at NASCAR – to uphold the integrity of our sport and our racing, to make sure that when our fans show up on a given day and watch a race, they’re seeing the best competition possible, and there’s nothing that’s in there manipulating that.”

The radio conversations implied that the manipulation was done to aid the manufacturers – Chevy and Toyota. While NASCAR currently doesn’t have a rule to penalize OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), according to Sawyer, they might in the future. “We do feel like this is the right path at this time. We will make sure going forward if we need to, we will ramp it up again. We will include drivers. We will include OEMs going forward if we need to. We will get this point across.”

All three teams involved intend to appeal the penalties.

Well, hopefully, this would be a lesson heading into Phoenix, and we would see more fairness by the teams as the NASCAR Cup Series’s 2024 champion is crowned. Who do you think has the strongest chance? Two-time Cup Champion Joey Logano, Defending Champion Ryan Blaney, Regular Season Champion Tyler Reddick, or William Byron?