After Austin Dillon’s controversial win after a pair of aggressive strikes on the ultimate lap of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Sequence Prepare dinner Out 400 at Richmond Raceway, Elton Sawyer, NASCAR’s Vice President of Competitors, was made out there to the media to discuss the time beyond regulation end.
Sawyer says that whereas what Dillon did was near crossing the road so far as what is suitable on the monitor, he feels in the mean time that Dillon’s strikes have been within the spirit of NASCAR’s historical past of being a contact sport.
“I assumed the final lap, that is one thing that — , our sport has been a contact sport for a very long time. We at all times hear, ‘The place’s the road?’ and ‘Did somebody cross the road?’ I’d say the final lap was awfully near the road,” Sawyer defined.
Following back-to-back strikes that crashed Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin on the ultimate lap, Dillon took a visit to Richmond’s victory lane, the place he collected his first trophy because the 2022 NASCAR Cup Sequence season.
With the win vaulting Dillon from thirty second within the championship standings heading into the evening to now being locked into the NASCAR Cup Sequence Playoffs, the strikes have been unquestionably going to be analyzed. Sawyer says whereas it feels the strikes have been authorized, NASCAR will have a look at all the sources at its disposal together with video and audio to find out if Dillon crossed the road or not.
If there are any penalties stemming from the last-lap drama, they are going to be introduced early within the week.
“We’ll check out all the out there sources, from audio and video. The spotters, we’re listening to the crew chief and drivers. If something rises to a degree that we really feel like we have to penalize, then we’ll do this on Tuesday,” Sawyer said.