Richard Childress: Penalty on Austin Dillon ‘has changed NASCAR racing on the final lap forever’

Now that Austin Dillon has lost both of his appeals, Richard Childress is openly talking about the decision handed down from NASCAR. The National Motorsports Appeals Panel didn’t budge on the playoff penalty, either.

Austin Dillon keeps his win from Richmond. But Dillon does not get playoff eligibility as a result of that win. Richard Childress Racing attempted to appeal the decision but they were unsuccessful.

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Now the bossman himself is speaking out on the matter.

“Their ruling has changed NASCAR racing on the final lap forever,” Childress said to the media, via Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports. “It’s over a million dollars to us. The largest fine ever in NASCAR. I’m just disappointed, disappointed, disappointed. That’s all I can say.”

Richard Childress is clearly disappointed in the penalty. Now his drivers have one more chance to make the NASCAR Playoffs – win at Darlington.

It is understandable why Childress would feel this way. However, it feels like an exaggeration. A number of drivers in the aftermath of that Richmond race felt that Dillon had crossed a line. Clearly NASCAR felt that way.

I think that Richard Childress is correct, this is going to change NASCAR. But that isn’t a bad thing. Had it gone unpenalized, it would have also dramatically changed the sport. A decision had to be made and it happened to be Dillon who was on the receiving end.

RCR is not going to be happy with this decision. That’s fine. It doesn’t take away the fact that it was the right one from NASCAR.

Richard Childress doesn’t believe drivers know where the line is

Even after the NASCAR penalty and two rounds of appeals, Richard Childress doesn’t believe that drivers know where the line is. If that is true, we will see it at the finish of one of these races here soon.

We have had some of the closest finishes in NASCAR history this season, and only Austin Dillon has done what he did to get the win. But Childress doesn’t think anyone knows where the supposed line or limit is.

“The drivers now, they know where a line is, or they think they do,” Childress said, via Pockrass. “They don’t. If you go in a car length – two-and-three-quarters was exactly how far back he was [of Logano], and the other car slows down 3 miles an hour on the last lap, you’re going to bump in a little to get [him] up the race track. Is that over now?

“What is the line? And then if you go to racing somebody off the corner and they get loose [as Hamlin did] and get into you, then does that mean you’re out of the Chase? That’s all I got to say about the ruling. But it has changed racing for a win for sure.”

Richard Childress won’t forget about this decision for a long time. But his race teams have to move on and try to get the job done this Sunday.