Dale Earnhardt Jr. makes penalty predictions for Austin Dillon, Joey Logano in aftermath of Richmond

In the aftermath of a contentious finish to the Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway, all eyes are on how NASCAR will handle potential penalties for Austin Dillon and Joey Logano.

NASCAR great Dale Earnhardt Jr. broke things down into three distinct categories for possible penalties: Dillon for wrecking Logano and Denny Hamlin, Dillon’s spotter for audio encouraging Dillon to wreck other drivers, and Logano for his actions opening the throttle down pit road after the race.

Earnhardt Jr., though, believes only two of the three will incur penalties.

“Honestly I don’t think Austin, I would be surprised if Austin gets penalized for anything even though absolutely you could say he right-hooked the 11, there’s other instances with right hooks,” Earnhardt Jr. said on the Dale Jr. Download podcast.

Austin Dillon’s situation is arguably the most high-profile of the bunch, because the win earned him a playoff spot after a mostly miserable season. But that playoff berth could be taken away, according to NASCAR’s rules, depending on how the organization views Dillon’s late-race conduct.

Some of the other stuff, to Earnhardt Jr., is certain to earn a penalty.

“I think Joey’s going to get a big deal, big penalty from the pit road stuff,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “He pissed (people) off. So if you watch the in-car footage of Joey coming down pit road, there’s people that are crossing pit road. Which there shouldn’t be any people on pit road, it’s a live pit road. …

“But anyways, that’s a problem in itself, but there are, with the officials, they’re jumping out of the way, Joey’s coming down pit road out of control. And one of the, when Joey finally comes to a stop you’ve got an official about to chew his ass. I was like, ‘Hey, I like that guy.’ I like the officials to be that way. That’s Mike Helton-esque. That was a 2004 official right there. That guy was coming to give him a piece of his mind, and rightfully so. And Joey will get a penalty for what he did there.”

Then there’s the spotter audio. While in the final lap of the race, Austin Dillon’s spotter was heard on the team’s radio saying, “Wreck him! Wreck him!”

That’s likely to bring down the hammer from NASCAR, per Earnhardt Jr.

“That’s trouble. That’s trouble,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “Now that, I think NASCAR will react to RCR in some way, shape or form because of the spotter audio. And they should. They should. Spotters have gotten in trouble in the past for giving directives and instructions like this. So crew chiefs, spotters, should always get in trouble when they’re telling their driver to do something nefarious on the racetrack such as wrecking another opponent.

“So I expect, I’ll be disappointed if something doesn’t happen in that realm. You can’t have spotters out of control, and that’s out of control. That’s too far.”

Will all the pressure on NASCAR result in a more serious penalty for Austin Dillon or will it remain isolated to his crew? That seems to be the million dollar question as we await Wednesday’s ruling.

“I think there was a line crossed on the racetrack with the 3 car throughout all that sort of shenanigans and certainly a line crossed in the spotter’s stand, and then a line crossed on pit road,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “So a lot of lines got crossed. Will there be more than two penalties? I would expect 22 Joey Logano penalty on pit road. I would expect something around the spotter audio. And I’m not sure what NASCAR could do or would do beyond that.”