National Motorsport Final Appeal Officer Upholds Austin Dillon's Richmond Penalty
The appeal process has officially concluded for Austin Dillon, and his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing team following penalties dished out by NASCAR after Dillon picked up his first win of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season in the Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway a few weeks ago.
On Monday, the National Motorsport Final Appeal Officer gave the final say on the matter and ruled that the penalties, which included the stripping of Playoff benefits associated with the win at Richmond, as well as the deduction of 25 driver and owner points and one-race suspension of spotter Brandon Benesch will be upheld.
Bill Mullis, the Final Appeal Officer concluded that Dillon and the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing team violated the Rules set for in the penalty notice. Dillon made two aggressive moves in the final turn of the 0.750-mile short track in order to take the race win, and at the time, a Playoff berth.
In a notice from the National Motorsports Appeals Panel, Mullis offered the following explanation:
"The data presented today from SMT and IDAS systems indicate that more likely than not a rule violation did occur at Richmond Raceway on 8-11-24 by the No. 3 RCR car on the last lap of the race," Mullis said.
Mullis' decision fell in line with the original decision from the National Motorsports Appeals Panel on Wednesday, August 21. Now, the situation is officially final after being taken to a final appeal before Mullis.
On the final lap at Richmond, Dillon punted race leader Joey Logano in Turns 3 and 4, and as he lost momentum from that incident, Denny Hamlin drove alongside him for the race lead. As Hamlin was about to clear Dillon for the lead and race win, Dillon turned sharp left into Hamlin's right rear quarter-panel, which sent Hamlin hard into the outside wall. Dillon then crossed the finish line for the win.
While NASCAR did not impose any sanctions the night of the race, after spending several days pouring over data and agonizing over the proper penalties, NASCAR issued the penalties to Dillon and his team on the Wednesday following Richmond.
After issuing the penalty, NASCAR's Elton Sawyer apologized to fans for the decision taking so long to reach but emphasized that the sanctioning body wanted to get the call right, rather than making the call quickly.
While Dillon was allowed to keep the race win on his official stat sheet, he sits 29th in the NASCAR Cup Series regular season point standings heading into this weekend's final regular season race -- the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington. Dillon will need to win this weekend's race and have his victory be unencumbered in order to advance to the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
Toby Christie is the Editor-in-Chief of Racing America. He has 15 years of experience as a motorsports journalist and has been with Racing America since 2023.