Austin Dillon Denied Final Appeal Of Richmond Playoff Penalty
Austin Dillon and Richard Childress Racing have exhausted the appeals process in their effort to get back into the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
Dillon wrecked Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin on the last lap of the Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway has he drove to victory, but his moves were deemed illegal and NASCAR decided the win wouldn’t count toward playoffs eligibility.
Dillon and the team also lost all of the playoffs points earned in the race along with 25 regular season points. Dillon’s spotter Brandon Benesch was also suspended for three races for telling Dillon to “wreck” Hamlin over the radio, but later had that reduced to one race on appeal.
Dillon and RCR lost their initial appeal on the driver and car penalties and now Final Appeals Officer Bill Mullis has issued a final verdict upon further review.
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“The data presented today from SMT and IDAS systems indicate that more likely than not a rule violation did occur at Richmond Raceway,” MIlls said.
Dillon is currently 29th in the Cup Series regular season standings with no chance to make it into the 16-driver playoff field on points and his last chance to win his way in will be at the Southern 500 on Sept. 1.
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His teammate Kyle Busch will also be looking for a win at Darlington after finishing second to Harrison Burton in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona on Saturday night. Busch is also too far out to get into the playoffs on points and would also like to continue his record 19-year-long streak of seasons with a win.
The win was Burton’s first in the Cup Series and the 100th for the historic Wood Brothers Racing team.
