NASCAR: Major playoff penalty ends up being completely meaningless

As a dedicated NASCAR enthusiast with decades of racing passion under my belt, I must say, the recent turn of events has left me scratching my head. Austin Dillon’s win at Richmond Raceway was robbed due to a controversial penalty, and it feels like a cruel twist of fate that his exclusion from the playoffs proved entirely meaningless.

Regardless of whether Austin Dillon was taken out of the playoffs following his win at Richmond Raceway or not, he would have been eliminated by this point in any case.

Trackhouse Racing Team’s Daniel Suarez was the 12th and final driver to advance to the round of 12, and he did so with a point total of 2,085. He started the playoffs with 2,006 points (one race win and one stage win), and he scored 79 points in the three round of 16 races.

In simpler terms, if Dillon had competed in all the playoff races, he would have started with 2,005 points due to one victory. However, he managed to score just 42 points in the actual races, which is a significant 38 points less than needed to advance.

Austin Dillon penalty proves entirely meaningless

Initially, the driver of car number 3 qualified for the four-round playoffs with his victory at Richmond. However, due to the destructive manner he secured this win, by colliding with both Team Penske’s Joey Logano and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin in the last corner on the final lap, NASCAR decided that this victory would not be recognized as qualifying for playoff eligibility.

In the regular season following that event, Dillon failed to secure another victory. Moreover, all of Richard Childress Racing’s attempts to challenge this outcome were rejected, which meant that the victor of the 2018 Daytona 500 was left out in the cold without qualification for the playoffs.

Initially, only one position in the 16-driver playoff bracket was undecided, allowing another driver to secure their spot through points. However, with him being one of fifteen drivers who won a regular season race, two positions became available for playoff qualification since only fourteen of those winners made it to the postseason.

Through Dillon’s penalty, Martin Truex Jr., driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, managed to secure a spot in the playoffs, marking his final season as a full-time competitor in the Cup Series.

However, Truex didn’t progress beyond the Round of 16 to the Round of 12. In other words, Dillon’s penalty turned out to be inconsequential because regardless of whether Dillon had been there instead of Truex, the identical lineup of 12 drivers would have advanced from the initial round to the quarterfinal round.

The Round of 12 in the NASCAR Cup Series is set to begin next Sunday, September 29. This will be the Hollywood Casino 400 presented by ESPN BET at Kansas Speedway, with live coverage starting at 3:00 p.m. ET on USA Network. If you haven’t already signed up for a free trial of FuboTV, now is the perfect time to do so and ensure you don’t miss out on the action!

2024-09-22 15:02