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NASCAR announces Austin Cindric won't face penalty for wrecking Austin Dillon

DSprofileby:Dustin Schutte•06/06/23•

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austin cindric
(Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

Austin Cindric will not face any punishment for making contact with Austin Dillon during last weekend’s Enjoy Illinois 300. NASCAR released a statement regarding the decision on Tuesday morning.

“Senior VP of Competition Elton Sawyer told (SiriusXM NASCAR) that the sanctioning body will not suspend or penalize Austin Cindric for Sunday’s incident with Austin Dillon,” NASCAR’s tweet stated.

With just over 20 laps remaining in Sunday’s Cup Series race in St. Louis, Cindric made contact with Dillon, forcing a wreck with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. The collision knocked Dillon out of the event.

From the naked eye, it appeared that Cindric may have right-rear hooked Dillon to cause the accident during the race. However, NASCAR doesn’t feel it came in retaliation or was intentional — or at least doesn’t have the evidence to support a suspension.

Some thought Cindric deserved a one-race suspension, comparing his maneuver to the one Chase Elliott pulled on Denny Hamlin during the Coca-Cola 600. NASCAR issued a one-race suspension to Elliott for the action.

Apparently, NASCAR didn’t believe Cindric’s move was on the same level as Elliott’s.

Cindric completed Sunday’s race in 13th place. He has not yet won a race during the 2023 regular season and has a pair of top-10 finishes.

Austin Dillon rips Austin Cindric after wreck

Dillon probably won’t be too happy with NASCAR’s decision to allow Cindric to compete in this weekend’s race. The driver was furious after getting knocked out of the Enjoy Illinois 300 on Sunday.

“I was wrecked intentionally by him,” Dillon said after the race. “Hooked right, just like Chase [Elliott] and Denny [Hamlin] and Bubba [Wallace’s] deal. He better be suspended next week.”

Dillon wasn’t the only one upset, either. Per Jeff Gluck of The Athletic, Richard Childress said that Cindric wrecked Dillon “intentionally” on Sunday.

The accident occurred with 22 laps remaining in the Cup Series race. The wreck brought out a red flag, halting the event in order to fix the wall.

NASCAR has really tried to crack down on eliminating retaliation efforts on the racetrack in the name of safety. It’s been especially focused on punishing drivers for right-rear hooking cars during a race.

It’s obviously difficult to judge Cindric’s actions on Sunday. But NASCAR didn’t feel the maneuver was egregious enough to warrant a suspension.

This weekend, NASCAR heads to Sonoma Raceway for the Toyota Save Mart 350. The green flag drops at 3:30 p.m. ET and the broadcast airs on FOX.