Kyle Larson’s Indianapolis redemption win is buried in the shadows now. As the NASCAR world sleepily returned from the long Olympic break, it was awakened with a resounding bang. The last laps of the Cook Out 400 race at Richmond Raceway were spectacular, to say the least. Austin Dillon scripted his own victory in a seemingly impossible circumstance, although the rulebook does not favor him.

Dillon was in dire straits going into Richmond – he sat 32nd in points. Yet the Goodyear tire strategy played off well in his hands, although Austin Dillon went rogue on the last lap. This has drawn flak from some experts who demand a strict penalty.

Austin Dillon’s actions raise some eyebrows

Obviously, the first ones to lash out at Austin Dillon were his opponents. The Richmond race seemed to slip into Joey Logano‘s hands after the lap 398 wreck. The Team Penske driver got a full car’s length advantage over Dillon all through the white-checkered flag. But mere seconds before the checkered flag, Dillon bumped into Logano and sent him spinning. Then he shoved Denny Hamlin out of the way as well, soon making his way to Victory Lane.

Both Hamlin and Logano lashed out at Dillon’s aggressive tactics. Now some other NASCAR insiders are also calling for NASCAR to take stern action so that this situation does not repeat. On a ‘Door, Bumper, Clear’ episode, TJ Majors detailed why Hamlin’s entry did not justify Austin Dillon’s actions. “He’s coming down the track, turned left, and then hit him…People were like, then Denny came up. Well, that’s the natural flow of the corners…When you hit the throttle on Turn 4, it’s supposed to carry you up the racetrack, not down the racetrack.”

Then Freddie Kraft laid down a few possible trajectories to curb the situation. “There are two options you can do to deter people from wanting to do this in the future. One of them is, you right rear somebody, suspend them, and don’t give them a waiver…very very unlikely for either one of those things to happen. The other thing is, give them a heavy playoff point fine…You know, congratulations, you’re in the playoffs, here’s a 100-point fine, you’re not going anywhere.” He further stressed the gravity of the chaos. “You have to take this to where people don’t wanna do this.” 

Austin Dillon’s finish was an eye-catcher to be certain, but it also scored some points in NASCAR’s bad books. NASCAR’s Senior VP of competition, Elton Sawyer, declared: “It happened fast, but I would say if you look at that in my view that’s getting right up really close to crossing the line.” But as the DBC hosts indicate, Denny Hamlin also agrees that NASCAR is going soft on this “egregious” ruler-breaker.

Hamlin calls out NASCAR

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Past incidents quite like Austin Dillon’s win have drawn hefty penalties. For instance, a 2010 Xfinity Series race ended in a similar fashion. The winning driver bumped the first-place car on the final lap to snag the victory, something very similar to what Dillon did. But that Xfinity racer also landed a $25,000 penalty, a probation period, and a loss of 60 points. So after falling prey to Dillon’s aggression in Richmond, Denny Hamlin is pushing NASCAR to take a step soon.

“You are the sanctioning body.” Denny Hamlin continued, placing the onus on NASCAR to make the right decision. “You are the big boys in the room…have to make tough calls sometimes. Sometimes you make the right call even if it’s a tough call. … You can’t wreck two guys to then go win a race and then reap the benefits and reward of that.” Hamlin further hilariously took a jab at NASCAR for not being able to take a stand. “The sanctioning body needs to be big boys and make big boy calls.”

Evidently, Austin Dillon is under a lot of fire for his Dale Earnhardt-inspired moves in Richmond. Let us see where NASCAR decides to go with their judgment of the race.