In one of the most controversial wins of the season, Austin Dillon takes the checkered flag at Richmond, but is there more? NASCAR will take a closer look at the final lap to make sure no penalties have to be imposed this week.
Not only did Austin Dillon overdo it in a corner by about four car lengths and send Joey Logano into the wall, he then crashed into Denny Hamlin and spun him to win the Cook Out 400.
After the race, Elton Swayer was available to answer media questions.
“Our sport has been a contact sport for a long time. You always hear, ‘Where’s the line, did somebody cross the line?’ I would say the last lap was awfully close to the line. We’re going to look at every resource available from audio to video, listen to the observers, listen to the crew chiefs and drivers and if anything gets bad enough that we feel like we need to issue a penalty, then we’ll do that on Tuesday,” Sawyer said, via Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports.
It seems that a decision will be made on Tuesday.
“We will look at all available resources, look at audio data, video data and SMT data, as we normally do in a situation like this, and make a decision on Tuesday.”
And how about taking the win away from Austin Dillon? Sawyer doesn’t think NASCAR has done that in the past. However, he does think it could set a precedent. At least he doesn’t rule out the possibility.
“Historically, it hasn’t been in our nature to take away races, but that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t set a precedent in the future. We would have to look at it.”
Austin Dillon wins in controversial overtime
At a restart in overtime, Austin Dillon was beaten by Joey Logano at the starting line. But that wasn’t all. Dillon came back in the last corner of the last lap and spun Logano. The 22 flew into the wall and Denny Hamlin was also involved in the accident.
Dillon entered today’s race 32nd. He was the third-worst full-time driver in the Cup Series this season in terms of points. This was Dillon’s fifth career win, his first on a short track.
This means that both Chris Buescher and Ross Chastain are out of the playoffs. Bubba Wallace now moves up to the last transfer spot. He is only three points above the cutline.
Joey Logano was absolutely furious after the race. He couldn’t believe that Dillon had gotten away with such a maneuver. Logano had beaten him to the restart from the starting line. The last corner was a completely different story.
