Steve Phelps on Austin Dillon penalty: 'We're not demolition derby'

After the controversial Richmond finish that saw Austin Dillon wreck not one but two other drivers in the final two turns, NASCAR penalized the driver. Dillon keeps his win, but he does not get the playoff spot that usually comes with a victory.

Instead, for his actions, Austin Dillon had his playoff eligibility taken away, 25 points docked, and his spotter was suspended for three races. An appeals panel ruled this week that the penalties would be upheld, but the spotter suspension was limited to only the one race at Michigan.

Speaking on behalf of NASCAR, Steve Phelps went on Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour. The two discussed the decision NASCAR made in this instance.

“Well, I’ll take it one step further,” Phelps said to Harvick. “If we hadn’t penalized it, then I think the, what we would see over the next twelve weeks would look significantly different. It just, we can’t have it. It really comes down to, what do you want your sport to be? And that’s why I think we ruled the way we did because we’re not demolition derby, we’re just not. We are a sport that, if we had done nothing, I think we would have opened ourselves up for a mess, honestly.”

What happened at Richmond was a step too far for NASCAR.

Austin Dillon crossed a line

During the conversation with Kevin Harvick, Steve Phelps was open about the decision. Austin Dillon stepped over a line. There might not be a clear, defined wording of what that “line” is, but for many, it was obvious.

Phelps said that NASCAR looked at the video and the data to support their final penalty.

“I would, I think, as we were looking at the data and what happened, it happened so quickly, but you had two incidents in a split second, right? Turn 3 you had an incident, Turn 4 you had an incident, and then the race was concluded. I think the bump and run or slam and run or whatever it was, right? I won’t suggest that there wouldn’t have been a penalty, because I have no idea.

“You had a second move and the second move was a hook, in our opinion, right? Which was both the eye test as well as the data would suggest that’s what happened. It’s hard to hide from the data, right? And he put a competitor also at risk. Denny took a hard hit. One of the hardest hits I think he’s had in this Next Gen car. There was a line that was crossed in our opinion.”

Did NASCAR get it right? Was a line crossed when Austin Dillon bounced his way to the finish line at Richmond?