Austin Dillon explains Richmond penalty appeal, compares it to other NASCAR incidents

Now that Austin Dillon and RCR have failed their appeal, the veteran NASCAR driver is speaking out about the process. Dillon, of course, is not happy with the results of the appeals.

Today at Darlington, both Austin Dillon and Richard Childress have spoken about the Richmond penalty and appeals. NASCAR used SMT data and other information to show that Dillon intentionally wrecked Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin.

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NASCAR has also remained adamant that it was the entirety of the last lap that caused them to penalize Dillon and take his playoff berth away.

Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports caught up with Dillon and got his side of the story.

“The 11 [Denny Hamlin] had 45 degrees of steer angle to the right coming up the track sliding into me. So there was two parts to that wreck. They said that the reason they took our playoff berth was a three-part problem, and it was the entirety. We were able to disprove that the spotter had anything to do with hit, because the wreck had already ensued when he said ‘Wreck him.’ And it was the context that he said it.

“Second, between Joey and I, he gets out of the car afterwards and says I was four or five car lengths back. The true distance was two car lengths from NASCAR. We superimposed SMT and pictures, it was one and three-quarters car lengths back. He was three miles an hour slower on entry on his final lap than his white flag lap. That’s the reason I was able to get to his back bumper. In any case, when you get all this together, there was two parts to ever part of it. So it was frustrating.”

A huge penalty for Austin Dillon and his team.

Austin Dillon, RCR did ‘due diligence’

The appeals process is sort of like a trial. Two sides bring evidence or lack of evidence in front of a three-member panel of the National Motorsports Appeals Panel.

If the panel denies an appeal, teams are able to appeal once more. Then it goes to a single appeals officer who makes a final ruling.

“We did our due diligence on the appeal,” Dillon went on to Pockrass. “We really put a lot of effort in for all of our employees at RCR. Didn’t think the penalty fit the crime. If you look back throughout NASCAR and history, guys with intent, wrecking people – Chase Elliott-Denny in Charlotte, given a waiver after that.

“Another one would be William Byron turning Denny under a caution, given 25 points penalty, $100,000 [fine] — they appealed it, got their points back and was bac kin the playoffs. So many cases where we felt like the penalty didn’t fit the entirety of the crime, and that that is the biggest financial penalty in the sport’s history from a judgement call, what it really comes down to.”

There has been a pretty strong, general consensus on the Richmond finish. Everyone thought it opened up a can of worms that no one wanted to open. By making it known this is not okay with NASCAR, it helps prevent future incidents.