NASCAR insider predicts whether Austin Dillon will get suspended for right-rear hooking Denny Hamlin

Austin Dillon could soon face punishment from NASCAR not for slamming into Joey Logano on the final lap of Sunday’s Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway, but rather intentionally putting Denny Hamlin into the wall as the two approached the start-finish line, Jeff Gluck of The Athletic said on “The Teardown” podcast.

The key word there is “could,” as Elton Sawyer, NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition, said the sanctioning body would come to a determination on Tuesday. Gluck, however, doesn’t feel NASCAR will issue a suspension for Dillon. Gluck predicted that because Dillon’s right rear hook of Hamlin wasn’t in retaliation, NASCAR will avoid coming down too hard on Dillon.

“We’ve been told right rear hooking somebody gets you a suspension,” Gluck said Sunday. “Well, I don’t think — look, you guys have been very mad at me for some of my predictions recently when I’ve said how I think NASCAR will penalize stuff. I really don’t think they’re gonna suspend Austin Dillon for right rear hooking somebody. Here’s how I think NASCAR will distinguish the difference. NASCAR will say that a right rear hook in retaliation is where people get suspended. A right rear hook as he did to Hamlin to put him in the wall for the win, they will say that’s different. And they won’t suspend him.

“Because here’s the problem, NASCAR has now put themselves in a giant box. They cannot let someone have a win without a rough driving penalty. And then suspend the person for that very action. You just can’t. Those two things don’t go together. There’s no logical sense where you can justify those things. You could either take away the win and issue a two-lap rough driving penalty which to me, actually would have been consistent where that would have put Austin Dillon 26th place. You would’ve said, ‘OK, that was crossing the line, that was too far. Two-lap penalty, retroactive to the end of the race, now you go to 26th. And we award it [the win] to second place who in this case, was Denny Hamlin.'”

Denny Hamlin emphatically declares Austin Dillon’s wrecks at Richmond were ‘over the line’

Dillon had everything to gain by taking out Logano and Hamlin. He entered Sunday’s race 32nd in the points standings, well out of playoff contention. But now, Dillon is postseason bound. He will be a part of the 16-driver field barring NASCAR making a decision to take his win away.

As you could imagine, both Logano and Hamlin weren’t happy with the outcome. Hamlin believes Dillon crossed the line and should be dealt with accordingly by NASCAR.

“In a major sport because we like to put ourselves in an upper echelon of sports in the world, you have officiating for a reason,” Hamlin said on Monday’s “Actions Detrimental” podcast. “I just don’t know why we’ve allowed it to get this bad over time. And I believe you have a responsibility as a sanctioning body to set an example not only for your competitors but the people coming through the ranks to say, ‘This is how we professionally race. This is how racing goes.’

“… Let me ask a question: If this is not over the line, then what is over the line? … He did not try to make a corner. He just drove until he wrecked him [Logano]. Kept going until he wrecked him.”