NASCAR strips Austin Dillon of playoff eligibility over wrecks

NASCAR docked Austin Dillon 25 points in the drivers’ standings on Wednesday in response to him taking out two cars in the final lap of last weekend’s race.

The disciplinary action strips Dillon of playoff eligibility in the Cup Series.

Dillon, however, gets to keep the win at Richmond.

Dillon drops from No. 26 to No. 31 in the drivers’ rankings after NASCAR tossed the 25 points for wrecking Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin on the final lap of the Cook Out 400.

“So, as we look through all of that data, we came to the conclusion that a line had been crossed. Our sport has been based going for many, many years, forever, on good, hard racing. Contact has been acceptable. We felt like, in this case, that the line was crossed,” Elton Sawyer, NASCAR senior vice president of competition, said Wednesday.

NASCAR also fined Logano $50,000 for his post-race antics, suspended Dillon’s spotter three races and docked Dillon’s team 25 points in the owners’ standings, too.

Dillon first clipped Logano’s No. 22 coming off the final restart, sending him spinning. Then Dillon caught up to Hamlin and spun him into the wall to take the checkered flag.

Dillon’s spotter Brandon Benesch was suspended for telling Dillon to “wreck him,” speaking of Hamlin.

“We know exactly what was said. We just felt like that that’s not what we need spotters doing,” Sawyer said. “That’s not what we need (from a) crew chief sitting on the box.”

Logano, angry for getting spun out, was fined for spinning his tires near the box of Dillon’s team, Richard Childress Racing, a violation of the member code of conduct for compromising the safety of others.

But the stiffest penalty was saved for Dillon, who said this after Sunday’s race:

“Wins get you into the next round. I did what I had to do to cross the start/finish line first.”

–Field Level Media