Austin Dillon was at the centre of controversy after his victory at the Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway.
Dillon secured his first win of the season and a place in the NASCAR playoffs at Richmond after he collided with Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano on the final lap of the race.
The incident caused outrage amongst drivers and fans alike, with the sport’s governing body issued firm punishments to Dillon for his actions.
But while the severity of the 34-year-old’s penalties affect his championship hopes, Elton Sawyer told Fox News why Dillon could keep his win.
Elton Sawyer explains why NASCAR could not strip Austin Dillon of his Richmond victory
In what has been an underwhelming season for Dillon, with just two top 10 finishes before the latest race at Richmond, the Richard Childress Racing driver clinched victory at the Cook Out 400 on the final lap.
But his victory did not come without controversy, as the 34-year-old was running in second place heading towards the line when he collided with both Logano and Hamlin in a matter of moments.
The 43-year-old had been on the verge of claiming his first win since Dover and was left furious after the race, with Hamlin demanding NASCAR to ‘penalise Dillon like they’re supposed to’.
And on Wednesday, three days after the race, it was announced that Dillon was in violation of Section 12.3.2.1.b of the NASCAR Rule Book, which states: “Race finishes must be unencumbered by violation(s) of the NASCAR Rules or other action(s) detrimental to stock car auto racing or NASCAR as determined in the sole discretion of NASCAR.”
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As a result, the RCR driver was docked 25 points in the drivers’ standings, dropping him from 26th to 31st, and had his playoff eligibility voided.
However, his race win still stands, and Sawyer, the senior Vice President of competition of NASCAR, explained that the governing body did think about stripping Dillon of the victory, but that the rulebook’s guidelines did not permit it.
When asked about if NASCAR had thought about taking Dillon’s win away, he said: “At the moment, we did.
“And as we look through the rulebook, there’s not, at the moment there’s not a mechanism in the rulebook that gives us that option.
“That’s something we can look at in the future. But just based off our rulebook language and using that to guide us in making the decision, that’s how we arrived where we did.”
Joey Logano was fined $50,000 for his actions after the race
Dillon was not the only one to receive punishment from NASCAR after the Cook Out 400, as Logano would get hit by a heavy fine for his actions in the pit lane.
The Penske driver, who was one of the drivers taken out of the race by Dillon, was left furious after the race with several X-rated blasts towards RCR’s No. 3 racer.
Following the incident, Logano drove up near Dillon’s pit box and proceeded to spin his tyres in anger in front of the celebrating RCR team, resulting in several personnel sprinting down pit road.
Logano was found to have been in ‘violation of the member code of conduct for compromising the safety of others’ and was fined $50,000, or £38,918.