NASCAR insider reveals when expected penalties for Austin Dillon, Joey Logano will be released

If there are penalties coming from NASCAR for drivers Austin Dillon or Joey Logano they will wait until Wednesday to see the light of day, according to a report from The Athletic’s Jeff Gluck.

Gluck reported Tuesday evening that NASCAR will not announce its ruling on the finish at the Richmond Raceway until Wednesday, giving officials a little more time to sort through the facts of the case.

That’s not entirely atypical; penalties are usually announced either on Tuesday or Wednesday.

There will be a lot in question for potential penalties, too, following a controversial ending to the Cook Out 400. Austin Dillon seemed poised for a win, sporting about a three-second lead over the field with two laps to go.

Then a caution came out for a wreck involving Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Ryan Preece, sending the race to overtime.

Dillon didn’t get the best restart in overtime, allowing Logano to clear him and take the lead. Dillon eyed up the competition and decided a little contact was his best course of action, so he rear-ended Logano and sent him spinning.

As Austin Dillon collected himself and got back to it, Denny Hamlin nearly stole the lead from the inside. Dillon also got into him and spun him out, taking him out in the final turn just before the finish line. Dillon would win the race.

Logano was livid after the fact, opening his throttle on pit road and then getting out of his car and glaring at Dillon.

It’ll be interesting to see what NASCAR makes of the whole incident, given the unintended message it may send to other drivers if Dillon isn’t punished. On top of the wrecks themselves, Dillon’s crew urged him to wreck his competitors on the team’s radio, something else that could draw fines or discipline.

Austin Dillon doesn’t expect to escape unscathed.

“Yeah, you know, I mean I’m expecting something obviously,” Dillon said on the Dale Jr. Download podcast on Tuesday morning. “As far as my spotter, I talked to him and I truly think for all of us, the emotions were really high in our situation for the the 3 car. We’ve been beat up, banged up for a while now and with two laps to go we had a three-second lead at Richmond and a caution comes out that probably shouldn’t have ever happened. But it did.

“And then now we’re here talking about things that take away from the car that we really had and the opportunity that we took.”