zach sturniolo
·5 min read
Austin Dillon‘s dramatic, controversial win in the Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway was ruled to not count toward playoff eligibility, NASCAR officials announced in its penalty report on Wednesday.
Dillon — who keeps his victory but not the playoff benefits that typically come with it — indebted himself to Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin with a last-lap bulldoze, and now simultaneously finds himself still searching for a postseason berth based off NASCAR‘s ruling.
Here‘s how Wednesday‘s news impacts the standings and other drivers jostling for postseason positioning.
WHAT IT MEANS
With Dillon‘s provisional spot from the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs eradicated, 12 drivers remain locked into the postseason grid with three races remaining in the regular season.
Martin Truex Jr. (+78), Ty Gibbs (+18) and Bubba Wallace (+3) remain above the current elimination line, but Chris Buescher now slots into the coveted 16th and final spot in the bracket. Buescher sits deadlocked in points with Ross Chastain but currently owns an advantage on the tiebreaker — which is best finish in the season, with Buescher twice a runner-up and Chastain’s season-high of fourth place.
WHAT‘S NEXT?
Dillon and his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing team may still appeal NASCAR‘s ruling and have three business days to do so, setting the deadline for 5 p.m. ET on Monday. If the team opts to appeal, both NASCAR and RCR representatives will present their cases to the National Motorsports Appeals Panel, which will rule to either uphold, modify or rescind the penalty.
Dillon — among the 20 other eligible drivers yet to lock into the postseason — will still have opportunities to win his way into the postseason with upcoming races at Michigan International Speedway, Daytona International Speedway and Darlington Raceway to close the regular season. Dillon is a two-time winner at Daytona, including a victory in the 2018 Daytona 500, with two top-five finishes and five top-10 finishes at both Michigan and Darlington.
The problem Dillon faces is that a win remains his only path to the playoffs. After Wednesday‘s 25-point penalty, the driver of the No. 3 Chevrolet sits 31st in points, far outside points contention. He also has to contend with 20 other desperate competitors just as eager to win their way forward.
WHO IT HELPS
NASCAR‘s decision to rescind the playoff-clinching benefits of Dillon‘s victory provides some breathing room — though not much — to those currently surrounding the playoff bubble.
With a 78-point margin above the elimination line, Truex goes into Sunday‘s race at Michigan (2:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports App, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) in the most comfortable position of those without a victory yet this season.
Three races left in the regular season means three opportunities for drivers outside the 16-driver playoff grid to win their way in. That means at least one spot in the postseason will be awarded on points. Truex has earned the eighth-most points of anyone so far this year but has been ousted from title contention due to a plethora of winners before. Truex missed the final spot in the 2022 bracket by just three points to Ryan Blaney, who was the only non-winner to advance to that season‘s playoffs.
Gibbs isn‘t quite comfortable yet, with an 18-point advantage worth fewer than can be earned in just two stages. But Wednesday‘s decision ultimately thrusts him forward one spot closer toward his inaugural appearance in the Cup Series Playoffs, no matter how narrow the current gap is.
Wallace‘s surge in the past five races have produced four top 10s, the one exception a 13th-place finish at the Chicago Street Course that theoretically should have been even better if not for contact with Alex Bowman, the eventual winner. Six weeks ago, Wallace sat 51 points outside the playoff grid. That margin is now three points to the good for the driver of the No. 23 Toyota.
Buescher and Chastain, on the other hand, don‘t need to panic with just three points to gain on Wallace over the next three weeks in the current squabble for 16th on the postseason grid, but the competition remains as tight as ever.
Chastain‘s results through the summer stretch have left plenty to be desired, with just one top-five finish (fifth, Richmond) and an additional top 10 (10th, New Hampshire) over the past seven races. To be fair, Chastain did lead 45 laps at Nashville and appeared to be on the way to a second-place finish that afternoon — until an Austin Cindric spin with two laps to go in regulation set up overtime … when Chastain wound up wrecked with a 33rd-place finish instead. That alone marked a 31-point swing for the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing team.
In that same seven-race span, Buescher has only done marginally better on the results sheet with two top fives — fifth-place finishes at both New Hampshire and Nashville. The No. 17 RFK Racing team appeared quick last week at Richmond, qualifying inside the top 10 and netting points at the end of Stage 1, but a pit-road error cost them a lap and ultimately produced an 18th-place finish.
The net result of Richmond, however, gives everyone at least one more spot for which to fight over the next three weeks.
