Why NASCAR had to give Austin Dillon the harsh penalty Gluck argued that NASCAR made the right move because it had to take a strong stance. “Had this not been penalized, had there not been a penalty for this, then it sort of becomes like ‘Well, who says okay it’s the wrong way. It’s not ethical, but I’m going to do it because what’s to stop me,” Gluck explained.
NASCAR revokedAustin Dillon’splayoff eligibility, which led to an interesting debate between two insiders from The Athletic. On The Teardownpodcast, Jordan Bianchi and Jeff Gluck shared their reactions to the news, and Bianchi said NASCAR needs to be careful when making big decisions like this.
“What happened on Sunday crossed a line by any measure. There is no doubt about that. Whatever that line is, and that still is a really vague thing that I would like a little bit more defining to, that crossed it.” Bianchi said about Dillon wrecking Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano to get the win at Richmond. “We have to be careful what you ask for. You want officials to be more involved, you want them to make these balls and strikes calls on these kinds of offenses. Well, be careful because now that they done it once, the pandora’s box has been opened.
“There’s expectation now that they’re going to have to do this going forward on a consistent basis. And the thing we talk a lot about when it comes to NASCAR officiating is consistency or lack thereof sometimes. That concerns me because I do not wants sports overofficiated. I don’t like gray area, and I understand that’s unavoidable, and yes I know what happened Sunday was very obvious. I agree actually with the 80 percent that voted the penalties, and I get that. But there’s going to come a time in the not-too-distant future where there’s going to be a less obvious call and it’s going to be made and we’re going to sit there and go ‘Boy, are you sure about that one?’”
Why NASCAR had to give Austin Dillon the harsh penalty
Gluck argued that NASCAR made the right move because it had to take a strong stance. “Had this not been penalized, had there not been a penalty for this, then it sort of becomes like ‘Well, who says okay it’s the wrong way. It’s not ethical, but I’m going to do it because what’s to stop me,” Gluck explained.
You know they’re not going to penalize it, you know they’re not going to do anything about it. If you can love with people being mad at you and talking bad about you but you’re still the champion, who cares?”
Dillon’s team, Richard Childress Racing plans to appeal NASCAR’s decision to revoke the playoff berth. He was in 13th place in the playoff standings, but the ruling reduces the number of playoff qualifiers to 12.
A NASCAR insider just shared his thoughts on the chances of Richard Childress Racing (RCR) winning the appeal of Austin Dillon‘s playoff berth being revoked. On X, a fan asked Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports if RCR had a chance to get the ruling overturned.
“I don’t think RCR has a good chance to win appeal because hard to say NASCAR ruled differently in other similar situations because not many other similar situations and rules give NASCAR latitude to make the decision,” Pockrass wrote. “But never say never.”
Dillon wrecked Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano before winning the Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway on Sunday. The win granted Dillon a playoff berth, but NASCAR revoked it on Wednesday, and Dillon and RCR were docked 25 points in driver’s and owners’ standings.
“I think in all due respect to the appeal process, we looked at this and the totality of everything that happened as you enter Turn 3 and as the cars got to the start/finish line,” NASCAR vice president of competition Elton Sawyer said. “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.”
Richard Childress Racing reacts to Austin Dillon’s finish at Richmond
After the race, Dillon’s crew chief Justin Alexander reacted to the finish. “I’ll be honest with you, I have not even seen any of it,” he said. “The last I saw, we were going into three. I kind of looked down for a second thinking it was over. I was trying to watch him. I didn’t see anything. All I saw was them cross the start/finish line. I haven’t seen anything on the finish.”
“I think in all due respect to the appeal process, we looked at this and the totality of everything that happened as you enter Turn 3 and as the cars got to the start/finish line,” NASCAR vice president of competition Elton Sawyer said. “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.”
Richard Childress Racing reacts to Austin Dillon’s finish at Richmond
After the race, Dillon’s crew chief Justin Alexander reacted to the finish. “I’ll be honest with you, I have not even seen any of it,” he said. “The last I saw, we were going into three. I kind of looked down for a second thinking it was over. I was trying to watch him. I didn’t see anything. All I saw was them cross the start/finish line. I haven’t seen anything on the finish.”
RCR owner Richard Childress seemingly defended Dillon’s actions. “It’s racing. They would do it to him, I promise you,” Childress said during the post-race press conference. “If he would have been leading it, that 22 would have moved him out of the way. The 11 would have moved him out of the way. Either one of them would have done the same thing. I’ve seen it before.
“You have to. Seen it right here at Richmond. Clint Bowyer won the race the night I think it was 88 and 18 knocked each other out of the way. He come under ’em and won the race on the last lap. You just think back of history.”
