Richard Childress Racing failed to regain the playoff eligibility with Austin Dillon’s Richmond victory in a hearing before the National Motorsports Appeals Panel on Wednesday.
The Panel stated: “NASCAR represents elite motorsports and, as such, its drivers are expected to demonstrate exemplary conduct if its series’ championships are to be validated. In this case, the ‘line’ was crossed.”
The only change the Panel made was to reduce spotter Brandon Benesch’s suspension from three races to one.
Richard Childress Racing stated: “Richard Childress Racing is disappointed in the results of today’s hearing in front of the National Motorsports Appeals Panel. We respect the NASCAR appeals process, but we do not believe that today’s outcome reflects the facts presented. We plan to appeal the decision to the Final Appeal Officer.”
With Dillon’s Richmond victory not counting toward playoff eligibility, he must win one of the two remaining races in the regular season to make the playoffs. The series races Saturday at Daytona (7:30 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock) and ends the regular season with the Southern 500 on Sept. 1.
The Panel ruled that Dillon violated the rules when he wrecked two cars on the final lap to win at Richmond but called the three-race suspension to Benesch “excessive.”
Serving on the Panel were Tom DeLoach, Kelly Housby and Tommy Wheeler.
Joey Logano was headed for the victory before Dillon wrecked him in Turn 3 on the final lap at Richmond. Logano spun and hit the wall after the contact from Dillon.
Denny Hamlin took the lead but Dillon hit him in the right rear, sending Hamlin into the wall and Dillon to the win. The victory put Dillon in the playoffs until NASCAR stripped that aspect of the win three days later.
Last weekend at Michigan, Dillon said of the situation: “In the end, you don’t hate the player, you hate the game.
“That was the situation that I was up against. I’ve learned a lot from Joey and Denny over the years. They don’t have any regrets in what they do on the racetrack. I can’t either and I don’t feel that way.”
Both Hamlin and JTG Daugherty Racing co-owner Brad Daugherty estimated the playoff ban could cost Richard Childress at least $2 million.
“I think it’s little bit more, maybe $2.5 million, so that’s huge,” said Daugherty, who also serves as an analyst for NBC Sports on NASCAR races.
Daugherty called NASCAR’s actions a “very, very, very hard penalty. … This is going to hit RCR pretty substantially in their pocketbook because we’re always trying to figure out a way to create a positive balance of our checkbooks. This could be multiple millions of dollars in losses based upon this penalty.”