Denny Hamlin has criticised Austin Dillon’s controversial antics in the closing stages of the Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway.
Dillon was in second place on the last lap before colliding with Joey Logano and Hamlin, taking the chequered flag in first place and securing his spot in the playoffs.
This year’s latest winner has been floundering throughout the NASCAR season with Dillon scoring just two top-10 finishes prior to his victory at Richmond Raceway.
He delivered an eighth-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway and a drive to sixth place at Gateway in Chicago earlier this season.
Denny Hamlin thinks NASCAR can’t let drivers do ‘whatever it takes’ after Austin Dillon’s controversial win at Richmond
But the manner in which Dillon scored his first win of the NASCAR Cup Series calendar this year at Richmond has proven to be highly controversial.
After two sizeable collisions in a matter of moments, the face of the race changed with less than half a lap to go and the driving standards of the championship were called into question once more.
Hamlin was on the verge of taking victory before the collision in the final few metres. It would’ve been his first win since triumphing at Dover earlier this year.
The 43-year-old has now outlined what penalty ‘100%’ of the NASCAR grid would see as suitable for Dillon after the controversial finish at Richmond.
Hamlin said on his Actions Detrimental podcast that every NASCAR driver would see Dillon getting the win taken away as the correct penalty.
“Yes, 100% of them would say that was warranted,” Hamlin stated. “I can’t imagine any other driver saying, ‘Well, yeah, the way he did it there to get in the playoffs, that was fair’. Nobody would say that was fair.”
NASCAR has been a motorsport built around contact more than other championships around the world but Hamlin said guidelines need to be in place.
He continued: “We have these rules in every other series because they know you cannot just open it up to allow these drivers to do whatever it takes, crash someone, hurt someone – you can do whatever you want. You cannot allow that, not as the top form of motorsports.”
Denny Hamlin puts pressure on NASCAR to penalise Austin Dillon
In NASCAR, penalties are usually reported on the Tuesday after the race after they have had time to look over audio and camera angles to make a decision.
Hamlin explained on his podcast that NASCAR should penalise Dillon after his antics at Richmond Raceway. He said the championship should ‘penalise him like you’re supposed to’.
The series is treading a fine line as driving standards in NASCAR have been a talking point in recent years as the season gets closer to the playoffs.
The rules around what is and isn’t acceptable on the track should be tightened up after another controversial moment for NASCAR.
There are three more rounds before the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs begin, kicking off with a trip to Michigan on August 18th.