As Richard Childress Racing plans its appeal of NASCAR’s penalty to Austin Dillon, the race team will be fighting for millions of dollars.
NASCAR allowed Dillon to keep his win in last weekend’s race at Richmond but took away the playoff eligibility that went with it, ruling that Dillon intentionally wrecked Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin on the last lap to attain that victory.
NASCAR’s penalty is significant. Dillon entered Richmond 32nd in owner points and outside a playoff spot. He secured a playoff position with the win, meaning his car would finish no worse than 16th in owner points this season — had he not been penalized.
Asked on his “Actions Detrimental” podcast this week about the financial difference in those points positions, Hamlin said: “Probably about 2 million bucks and what the charter will get paid. … That’s the key.”
JTG Daugherty co-owner Brad Daugherty said that number is higher.
“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 calls 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.”
Teams are paid through their charter in multiple ways:
They receive a set amount for entering a race (charter teams are required to enter all races).
Teams are paid winnings from each race.
Teams are paid based on their position in the final car owner standings.
Teams also are paid based on their car’s performance in the past three seasons. The better a car finishes in the owner standings in that timespan, the more the team receives.
Exact figures of payments are not revealed by NASCAR.
Dillon’s win was pivotal for that historical payment because he failed to make the playoffs last year. Now, he could miss the playoffs a second year in a row — impacting the No. 3 team’s charter — unless he wins one of the remaining three races in the regular season or Richard Childress Racing prevails in its appeal.
All of this comes as Richard Childress Racing has struggled this season. Childress told NBC Sports last month that he was “more involved” in changes to improve the performance of Dillon and Kyle Busch. More money could make it easier to add the people Childress feels can help turn around the organization. He told NBC Sports last month that “I want to beef up our engineering.”
Daugherty understands what one win can mean for an organization.
JTG Daugherty Racing’s No. 47 car finished 22nd in car owner points in 2021 and was 28th the following year. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s Daytona 500 win last year put him in the playoffs. The car went on to finish 16th (last among playoff drivers) in the car owner standings in 2023.
The jump from 28th to 16th in points was significant last year and that playoff season helped increase the payout the team receives based on historical performance.
Dillon’s penalty comes as teams and NASCAR look to extend the charter agreement beyond this year. Teams seek more money as NASCAR enters a new media rights deal next season that goes through the 2031 season and is reportedly worth $7.7 billion. NASCAR and teams have exchanged multiple proposals but no deal is done.
Two years ago, team representatives said they needed additional revenue to fix a “broken” business model.
Hendrick Motorsports Vice Chairman Jeff Gordon said at the time: “Where we’re currently at is not sustainable.”
Gordon said in July that he was “very optimistic” a charter agreement would get done.
While a new deal is expected to funnel more money to organizations, Childress and his team and focused on what they could gain in winning their appeal.
2. “A big moment”
While NASCAR’s penalty to Austin Dillon is significant for many reasons, NBC Sports analyst Jeff Burton notes that NASCAR’s actions are a “big moment for the sport” because of the determination of “what crosses the line” in regards to contact.
“I think it’s a little more clear, for sure, but it’s never going to be crystal clear,” Burton said in comments in the video above. “The drivers need to know there has to be a consequence if you go over the line. Every driver looks at the line a little differently. I’m sure Austin Dillon doesn’t agree with this call, right?
“ … In a chaotic world which these drivers live in, we have to have some degree of what is acceptable.”
Burton notes that the debate of what is too much contact has been around for years, but all the recent changes in the sport have only magnified the issue.
“We’ve wrestled with what’s the right thing to do,” he said. “I will say this, in an era where safety has become more important, in an era where the drivers are put into more difficult situations because of the format and because of the rules and because of the processes and the charters — all those things that put more pressure on the drivers and that’s awesome to watch — but at the same time, it’s put them in positions where they do things that they’re not always comfortable with.
“I think in some ways (NASCAR’s decision) helps them be able to go to their car owner, go to their sponsors, go to their crew chief, go to their spotter and say, ‘We can’t do that.’ They’re not going to let us do it.’
“Trust me, the pressure is there. I heard it all the time. ‘You don’t wreck enough people. You’re not aggressive enough.’ Well, hell, I didn’t race in this. I didn’t race like these guys have to race. It’s more intense than when I raced.”
“I think giving them some borders and some guidelines is actually better for everybody.”
3. A little lift
Starting this weekend, NASCAR Cup teams will have the option to run a rear damper that includes a lift to help cars with flat tires return to pit road without further damaging the vehicle.
With the cars so low to the ground, they have been unable to travel when the tires are flat or risk damaging the underneath portion of the car when they do try to return to the pits.
NASCAR has tried multiple ways to return the cars to pit road without additional underbody damage, including a system that used two tow trucks to lift the car on to a dolly to transport to the garage. NASCAR used that after Ross Chastain’s car had a flat at Iowa in June.
NASCAR states that the new damper design replaces the stock lower shaft end of the shock absorber with a new lift actuator.
Cars with this device will have a valve in the driver’s side A-post. When a safety worker reaches the car, they will use a tank of compressed air to raise the car 2-3 inches so it can return to pit road. After the tires are changed, the team can lower the car by pulling the valve.
4. Back to work
The Xfinity Series is back on track this weekend after three weekends off. The Series got an extra weekend off beyond the two-week Olympic break.
Eight of the 12 playoff spots have been secured by a win. The four drivers without a win in a playoff spot are AJ Allmendinger (102 points above the cutline), Sheldon Creed (+69), Parker Kligerman (+46) and Ryan Sieg (+3).
Sammy Smith (-3) is the first driver below the playoff.
Six races remain until the Xfinity playoffs begin Sept. 28 at Kansas Speedway. Saturday’s race at Michigan airs at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.
5. Numbers to know
3 — Consecutive races a Toyota engine in a Joe Gibbs Racing car has had an issue. Ty Gibbs failed to finish at Pocono due to an engine failure and was down on power at Indianapolis. Martin Truex Jr. finished last at Richmond after an engine failure.
6 — Points separating the top three in points. Kyle Larson leads with 779 points and is followed by Tyler Reddick (774) and Chase Elliott (773). It is the closest ever that the top three have been at this point in the season.
7 — Consecutive top 10s for Martin Truex Jr. at Michigan, best among active drivers.
9 — Wins in a row by Ford at Michigan. Chris Buescher extended the streak last year.
91 — Victories by Joe Gibbs Racing at all other tracks since its last Cup win at Michigan, which came in August 2015 with Matt Kenseth.