Austin Dillon’s playoff eligibility was stripped following his controversial win at the Richmond Cup Series race, where he intentionally wrecked competitors Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano on the last lap.
This unprecedented action by NASCAR, which included revoking Dillon’s playoff eligibility and imposing a 25-point penalty on both Dillon and his team, Richard Childress Racing, has led to an official appeal.
Denny Hamlin recently shed light on the possible grounds for Dillon’s appeal during the “Actions Detrimental” podcast.
Hamlin, directly involved in the incident, believes RCR might not contest the intention behind Dillon’s actions but instead challenge the unique nature of the penalty—acknowledging a win yet disqualifying it for playoff contention. He explained:
“If I’m thinking about what are they going to build a case on, I think it would be really really hard to build a case to say it wasn’t intentional, so probably that’s not their angle.
“More likely, it would be of the angle that it’s unprecedented that a win has counted but not been eligible for the playoffs. You put in your rulebook that you have a win and it puts you in the playoffs.
“I would argue that a little bit because I read some language to you last week that was in the rulebook that when it comes to the kind of fairness of the sport they can make unprecedented calls, I think what NASCAR is going to defend.
“Maybe they’re not just going to argue that he did it intentionally or not intentionally, whatever it might be. They’re probably going to say people have wrecked for the win for quite some time and you’ve done nothing. This time you chase to take us out of the playoffs and that is unprecedented.”
Hamlin added:
“What NASCAR probably would say was that we saw an unprecedented move and it caused us to make an unprecedented call. That’s what I think that both sides are thinking about. I could be totally wrong and they might have some sort of evidence or reasoning behind their appeal.
“We really don’t know what they’re appealing. They’re going to appeal that this win should count. If you gave us the win, the win should count towards the playoffs. I understand that argument, which is why I said, you should have taken care of it at the track.
“Enforce the rough driving penalty right then, then everything else just fixes itself, it doesn’t have a split outcome.”
As the situation unfolds, the motorsports world awaits the details of the arguments that will be presented by both Dillon’s team and NASCAR.
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