Denny Hamlin called for NASCAR to penalize Austin Dillon for his actions on the last lap of Sunday’s Cup race at Richmond and warned that if officials did not, the effect could have far-reaching consequences for the sport.
Dillon won at Richmond to secure a playoff spot after he ran into the back of Joey Logano and spun him on the final lap and then made contact with the right rear of Denny Hamlin’s car, which sent it into the wall, before taking the checkered flag.
Hamlin said on his podcast that he went to the NASCAR hauler to talk to series officials and was joined by team co-owners Joe Gibbs and Heather Gibbs, JGR President Dave Alpern and crew chief Chris Gabehart.
NASCAR allowed the results to stand Sunday night, but Elton Sawyer, senior vice president of competition, told reporters after the race that Dillon’s actions came “awful close to the line.” Sawyer said that series officials would further examine if to penalize Dillon. A decision could come Tuesday.
Hamlin, who was credited with second place, spoke at length about the incident on his “Actions Detrimental” podcast and said NASCAR must react.
“You are the sanctioning body,” Hamlin said. “You are the big boys in the room. You have to make tough calls sometimes. Sometimes you make the right call even if it’s a tough call. … You can’t wreck two guys to then go win a race and then reap the benefits and reward of that.”
On the topic of if Dillon should have the win taken away, Hamlin said on the podcast: “You can basically say to everyone that we deem that as not a racing incident, that it was intentional. It altered the finish of the race, therefore this person does not deserve to win.”
Hamlin later said on the podcast: “The sanctioning body needs to be big boys and make big boy calls.”
Dillon said after the win that with Logano, he was “trying to get him loose, but the (contact with Hamlin) was more of just a reaction. When I was coming back left, (Hamlin) was coming. That was just kind of a reaction.”
Asked about the potential of NASCAR taking the win away from him, Dillon said: “I’ve seen Denny and Joey make moves that have been running people up the track to win. This is the first opportunity in two years for me to be able to get a win. I drove in there and kept all four tires turning across the start/finish line.
“To me, I’ve seen a lot of stuff over the years in NASCAR where people move people. It’s just part of our sport. You know what I mean?”
Among the topics Hamlin discussed on his podcast was how he felt NASCAR not reacting could impact this season, including the playoffs, and beyond.
“I just worry about the long-term effects,” Hamlin said Monday on his podcast. “Let’s take me out of it, just the long-term effects that this has on racing. We started to see this morph its way into ridiculousness at the end of these races.
“Martinsville, God knows, I mean, we all know what’s coming in a few months, right? We’re going to get a green-white-checkered and everyone will wipe each other out because they have not enforced the rule book in these situations.
“ … You cannot find a more blatant ‘I’m going to drive until I wreck you, I see another car, I’m going to steer left and take him out, too.’ You can’t find a more egregious … rough driving or bad on-track conduct.”
As for the championship race at Phoenix, Hamlin said that if there was not a penalty to Dillon: “If we allow this, this is a bad, bad way to because at Phoenix, just wipe all your competitors out. Like if I were in the final four, what keeps me from just crashing all three of the guys I’m up against?”