Insiders give opposite reactions to NASCAR revoking Austin Dillon Playoff Eligibility

NASCAR revoked Austin Dillon’s playoff eligibility, which led to an interesting debate between two insiders from The Athletic. On The Teardown podcast, Jordan Bianchi and Jeff Gluck shared their reactions to the news, and Bianchi said NASCAR needs to be careful when making big decisions like this.

“What happened on Sunday crossed a line by any measure. There is no doubt about that. Whatever that line is, and that still is a really vague thing that I would like a little bit more defining to, that crossed it.” Bianchi said about Dillon wrecking Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano to get the win at Richmond. “We have to be careful what you ask for. You want officials to be more involved, you want them to make these balls and strikes calls on these kinds of offenses. Well, be careful because now that they done it once, the pandora’s box has been opened.

“There’s expectation now that they’re going to have to do this going forward on a consistent basis. And the thing we talk a lot about when it comes to NASCAR officiating is consistency or lack thereof sometimes. That concerns me because I do not wants sports overofficiated. I don’t like gray area, and I understand that’s unavoidable, and yes I know what happened Sunday was very obvious. I agree actually with the 80 percent that voted the penalties, and I get that. But there’s going to come a time in the not-too-distant future where there’s going to be a less obvious call and it’s going to be made and we’re going to sit there and go ‘Boy, are you sure about that one?'”

Why NASCAR had to give Austin Dillon the harsh penalty

Gluck argued that NASCAR made the right move because it had to take a strong stance. “Had this not been penalized, had there not been a penalty for this, then it sort of becomes like ‘Well, who says okay it’s the wrong way. It’s not ethical, but I’m going to do it because what’s to stop me,” Gluck explained.

“You know they’re not going to penalize it, you know they’re not going to do anything about it. If you can love with people being mad at you and talking bad about you but you’re still the champion, who cares?”

Dillon’s team, Richard Childress Racing plans to appeal NASCAR’s decision to revoke the playoff berth. He was in 13th place in the playoff standings, but the ruling reduces the number of playoff qualifiers to 12.