CHRISTIE: Time for NASCAR to Set a Precedent on Unprecedented Situations at Richmond
NASCAR had a chance to put its foot down Sunday evening following an absolute bush-league final lap in the NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway, but it failed to do so. Three days later, the sanctioning body is expected to deliver its weekly penalty report, and many are waiting with bated breath to see what is contained within the report.
Make no mistake about it, something should have been said or done on Sunday night, but the sanctioning body taking until Wednesday to reveal its penalties leads you to believe the deliberations about what to do have been thorough and ultimately, whatever action is taken will be calculated.
If you've been living under a rock, there were a couple of eye-raising moments at the end of Sunday's race both on-track and off-track, which will likely result in penalties of some kind for two separate drivers.
Austin Dillon, the driver of the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 has been the topic of much deliberation in the court of public opinion about whether the lengths he went to in order to secure his first NASCAR Cup Series victory since the 2022 season were fair or foul. Dillon had the race all but sewn up with two laps to go as he had a comfortable lead over Denny Hamlin. Then, a questionable incident between Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Ryan Preece brought out the first caution for cause in the entire race, and sent the race into Overtime.
Dillon's for sure win was anything but, and on the ensuing restart, he lost the lead and control of the race to Joey Logano. As the driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford Mustang Dark Horse led Dillon and the remainder of the field to the white flag, it appeared quite obvious that unless Dillon did something drastic, the race was over.
Determined to flip the script on a disappointing season, which saw him mired 32nd in the championship standings heading into Sunday night, Dillon says he began to see red and went into business for himself and his race team to win by any means necessary. Dillon flat-out took the entrance of Turn 3 without braking, which allowed him to slam into the rear of Logano's No. 22 machine, which sent Logano spinning from the lead.
This was absolutely one of the most chaotic finishes I have ever seen in my years of watching #NASCAR. What do you think about this?! pic.twitter.com/L903Ao4Two
— Toby Christie (@Toby_Christie) August 12, 2024
However, there was a problem. As Dillon made the contact, he drifted up the track, which paved a path on the bottom lane for Denny Hamlin, who scooted by for what appeared to be his fourth win of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season. That's when Dillon's spotter Brandon Benesch shouted on the team radio, "Down low, down low, wreck him." Dillon turned sharp left and caught the right-rear quarterpanel of Hamlin's No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, which sent Hamlin hard into the outside wall, and Dillon finally -- by hook or by crook -- did whatever it took to snag his fifth-career win.
When pressed about the spotter communicating with Dillon to wreck Hamlin after he had spun Logano, Richard Childress, team owner of Richard Childress Racing and grandfather of Dillon, denied that the words were ever uttered on the team radio.
"I don’t think anyone said that, no," Childress said. "Everybody was quiet. We left it up to him to do his job. Hell no, nobody said, Go out and wreck him, do what you got to do. Nobody. I was on the radio the whole time."
Childress was mistaken as video evidence did surface of Benesch telling Dillon to wreck Hamlin.
If you don’t like it then don’t even watch pic.twitter.com/GMUGPcJtoF
— Dylan Connolly (DCONN) (@DCONN24) August 12, 2024
Dillon said while his spotter may have been telling him to wreck someone at the time of the accident, he was fully focused inside the car on doing whatever it took to win the race, and he blocked out whatever was being told to him.
"Dude, at that point I’m elbows up, holding the throttle down, just trying to get to the start/finish line literally," Dillon explained. "I am sideways off of four ’cause I’m already three-quarters of the lane up the track, hammer the gas. I’m just looking at the start/finish line. That’s it. I ain’t hearing [anything] at that point, you know? Your eyes turn red. You see red, you get to the end of the race."
Following the race, Elton Sawyer, NASCAR's Vice President of Competition addressed the media about the finish of the race, and refused to state whether Dillon's antics were over the line. Saywer said, “I thought the last lap, that’s something that — you know, our sport has been a contact sport for a long time. We always hear, ‘Where’s the line?’ and ‘Did someone cross the line?’ I would say the last lap was awfully close to the line.”
While it looked awfully close to Sawyer and NASCAR officials on Sunday, the line in the sand of what is acceptable and what isn't, began to get less and less fuzzy with each passing statement from Dillon's competitors that came in by way of interviews on pit road, podcasts, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. The back-against-the-wall moment, which led to Dillon raging his way to a Playoff berth had passed the point of being able to be swept under the rug. And now, we'll find out what the fate of the driver is on Wednesday.
Will he keep his race win? Most likely as NASCAR typically doesn't strip wins away from drivers for non-technical violations, and even more rarely do they take wins away days after an event. But this is an unprecedented moment as we've never -- to my knowledge -- seen a competitor wipe out two competitors in separate moves on the final lap to score a race win in NASCAR. While the win isn't expected to be taken away, the Playoff implications from it are another story. If NASCAR really wants to set an example that what happened on Sunday night will not be tolerated, the best way to stomp out those situations in the future is by not allowing Dillon to utilize that win as his path into the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
Again, we'll have to wait and see what NASCAR does, but as Tyler Reddick said on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio this week, if NASCAR does nothing, or is too soft in its decision, it sets a potentially dangerous precedent where a driver could potentially make a similar move on the final lap at Phoenix Raceway with a championship on the line in November. The best time to nip this situation in the bud was on Sunday night, but Wednesday's penalty report could do the trick as well.
Joey Logano Faces Potential Sanctions After Post-Race Temper Tantrum on Pit Road
While the initial outrage in the NASCAR world was on the moves Dillon made to win the race, outrage was redirected at Joey Logano, who was spun from the lead on the final lap for what the driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford did after the race was over.
As Logano was driving down pit road, he pulled to the inside of other cars that were filing into position for the post-race inspection process, and he was travelling at a much higher rate of speed than those around him. As Logano sped toward the start-finish line, he nearly ran over a group of 10-to-12 people, including a NASCAR official, Austin Dillon's wife, who was carrying their baby daughter Blaize as well as a full entourage of folks from Richard Childress Racing.
That… looks MUCH WORSE than the footage that circulated yesterday, and should no doubt be a significant penalty. I don’t care how mad you are, that is NOT the way to show frustration, especially with so many people around.
— Joseph Srigley (@joe_srigley) August 12, 2024
Disgraceful.#NASCAR
pic.twitter.com/BJ4PKlIFqs
After narrowly missing the group of people, Logano lights up his rear tires in frustration. And as his car appears to potentially have a broken toe-link from the final lap crash, his car skids to the left during the pit road burnout, where he nearly collides with another NASCAR official.
Logano finally straightens his car and begins driving forward again, where he is met by an irate NASCAR official who screams at him.
It was a scary situation and a very unnecessary one at that. The end result will likely be a hefty penalty for Logano. Whatever the penalties are for Logano and Dillon, this is a massive opportunity for NASCAR to make a statement in regard to on-track and off-track safety before things snowball out of control. It's time to set some precedence.
TOBY CHRISTIE