Austin Dillon loses first appeal to Richmond penalty, remains out of playoffs

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A three-member NASCAR appeals panel Wednesday denied the appeal of Austin Dillon, who remains without a playoff berth despite a victory Aug. 11 at Richmond Raceway.

Dillon won the race following a last-lap incident where he turned Joey Logano and then hooked Denny Hamlin to take the checkered flag and what he thought was an automatic playoff berth that goes with a regular-season win.

Three days later, the Richard Childress Racing driver  still had the trophy and the winner’s check but not much else as NASCAR revoked the automatic playoff berth. Dillon was also docked 25 points in the standings and his spotter, Brandon Benesch, was suspended for three races. Benesch’s suspension was reduced to one race, and he already has served it as he missed last week’s race at Michigan.

NASCAR rules allow for that decision as the playoff eligibility requirements state: “Race finishes must be unencumbered by violation(s) of the NASCAR Rules or other action(s) detrimental to stock car auto racing or NASCAR as determined in the sole discretion of NASCAR.”

The appeals panel determined the rule was applicable to this situation.

“NASCAR represents elite motorsports and, as such, its drivers are expected to demonstrate exemplary conduct if its series’ championships are to be validated. In this case, the ‘line’ was crossed,” the panel said in a statement.

Hearing the appeal were former NASCAR truck team owner Tom DeLoach, former racing engineer Tommy Wheeler and transportation equipment company executive Kelly Housby.

RCR and Dillon will take the case to Final Appeal Officer Bill Mullis, the owner of Langley (Va.) Speedway. He is expected to hear the final appeal within the next week.

“Richard Childress Racing is disappointed in the results of today’s hearing in front of the National Motorsports Appeals Panel,” the team said in a statement “We respect the NASCAR appeals process, but we do not believe that today’s outcome reflects the facts presented. We plan to appeal the decision to the Final Appeal Officer.”

Dillon said last week he was optimistic about the appeal of the decision, a decision that followed a race where Dillon appeared he would cruise to victory when a caution came out with just a couple of laps remaining. Logano got a good jump on the restart and had enough of an advantage that he thought he would be able to hold off Dillon, who went into Turn 3 and turned Logano. Hamlin ducked to the inside to get by Logano and as they raced to the finish line, Dillon hooked Hamlin in the right rear.

Dillon indicated he was just flooring his throttle and didn’t intend to turn Hamlin. 

“I was just trying to get to him,” Dillon said following the race about Logano. “I went into Turn 3 in fifth gear and drove in, tried to get him loose, got him up the track. I got the car downshifted, and the car actually turned pretty good when I did that.

“When I was coming back left, the 11 [of Hamlin] was coming. That was just kind of a reaction. … I wasn’t lifting at that point because I was more looking at where the 22 [of Logano] was. When the 11 came across, it was just reaction.”

Hamlin said the data was clear the contact was intentional.

“When he is getting told to come down [by his spotter], he is doing what he is told and then when he sees me, he’s probably just trying to make contact,” Hamlin said. “But at that point, I nearly had him cleared. The right rear is just a vulnerable spot and can put you in a bad wreck position.”

After issuing the penalty last week, NASCAR Senior Vice President Elton Sawyer said those moves should not be acceptable to win a championship.

“The No. 1 thing is that we want to make sure that we are protecting the integrity of our playoffs as well as our championship when we get to [the final race at] Phoenix,” Sawyer said.

“And we want to make sure that our competitors understand — we want them to make all the decisions, we want them to be able to race hard, that’s what our sport has been about for 75-plus years — but we also want them to understand, and I believe that each and every one of them understands, that this crossed the line.”

Dillon, 29th in the standings, can still make the playoffs with a win either this weekend at Daytona or the following weekend at Darlington.

Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.

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