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

NASCAR’s three-member appeals panel on Wednesday denied the appeal of Austin Dillon, who remains without a playoff spot despite an Aug. 11 win at Richmond Raceway.

Dillon won the race after a last-lap incident in which he spun over Joey Logano and then collided with Danny Hamlin to claim the checkered flag and what he believed was an automatic playoff spot that comes with a regular-season win.

Three days later, the Richard Childress Racing driver retained the trophy and the winner’s check, but nothing else remained for him, as NASCAR revoked his automatic qualification for the playoffs. Dillon was also docked 25 points in the standings, and his handler, Brandon Benesch, was suspended for three races. Benesch’s suspension was reduced to one race, and he has already served his suspension, having missed last week’s race at Michigan.

NASCAR rules allow for this decision as the playoff eligibility requirements state: “Race finishes shall not be burdened with violations of NASCAR rules or any other actions detrimental to stock car racing or NASCAR as determined in NASCAR’s sole discretion.”

The Appeals Committee decided that the rule applied to this situation.

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

The appeal hearing was attended by former NASCAR truck team owner Tom DeLoach, former race engineer Tommy Wheeler, and transportation equipment company CEO Kelly Housby.

RCR and Dillon will take the case to final appeals officer Bill Mullis, owner of Langley (Va.) Raceway. He is expected to hear the final appeal within the next week.

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

Dillon said last week he was optimistic about appealing the decision, which followed a race in which Dillon looked set to win easily when a caution came out with just two laps to go. Logano had built up a good lead on the restart and had enough of an advantage that he thought he would be able to hold off Dillon, who entered Turn 3 and spun around Logano. Hamlin leaned inside to pass Logano and as they raced to the finish line, Dillon got caught in Hamlin’s right rear.

Dillon indicated that he was just pressing the throttle and had no intention of turning Hamlin.

“I was just trying to get to him,” Dillon said of Logano after the race. “I went into Turn 3 in fifth gear and I drove, tried to get him free, pushed him onto the track. I slowed down, and the car actually spun pretty good when I did that.”

When I turned back to the left, it was number 11. [of Hamlin] It was coming. It was just a reaction. … I wasn’t looking up at that moment because I was looking more at where the 22 was. [of Logano] That was it. When the eleventh appeared, it was just a reaction.

Hamlin said the data was clear that the contact was intentional.

When asked to get off [by his spotter]”He does what he’s told, and when he sees me, he’s probably just trying to make contact with me,” Hamlin said. “But at that point, I was about to push him away. The right rear is just a weak spot and can put you in a really bad position.”

After the penalty was issued last week, NASCAR vice president Elton Sawyer said the moves should not be acceptable to win the championship.

“The first thing is that we want to make sure that we protect the integrity of the qualifiers as well as our tournament when we get to the [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, and that’s what our sport has been about for over 75 years – but we also want them to understand, and I think every single one of them understands, that this has crossed the line.”

Dillon, who is 29th in the standings, could still qualify for the playoffs if he wins either this week at Daytona or next week at Darlington.

Bob Pokras covers NASCAR for Fox Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including more than 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @Grasshopper Tree.

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