On Thursday, NASCAR senior vice president of competition Elton Sawyer confirmed three penalties in relation to the #3 entry.
Beyond being stripped of a guaranteed playoff entry, the #3 was docked 25 points in the drivers’ standings and owners’ standings.
Dillon’s spotter was also handed a three-race ban, which means he will miss the three remaining opportunities in the regular season to earn a playoff entry.
A little more than an hour after NASCAR announced the penalties, Richard Childress Racing confirmed its intention to appeal the decision.
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“Richard Childress Racing is very disappointed in NASCAR’s penalty against the No. 3 team,” the team said in a statement.
“We do not agree with the decision that was made and plan to appeal.”
Secure your spot today.
Not as disappointed as I was off turn 4. https://t.co/0srS4wrlob
— Denny Hamlin (@dennyhamlin) August 14, 2024
The situation could have been worse for Richard Childress Racing with Sawyer confirming NASCAR did consider suspending Dillon.
There were calls for Dillon to be sanctioned heavily with precedents set by the likes of Bubba Wallace, who was suspended for wrecking Chase Elliott in a similar fashion to Dillon on Denny Hamlin.
“They were incidents on mile-and-a-half race tracks at 160 mph,” said Sawyer.
“Not to say that Richmond is not one that you would take into consideration in that type of move, but each individual situation is different and when we looked at this in the totality as I said earlier, we felt that the penalty that we have issue the #3 and the #3 owner takes the eligibility of using that win away from them.
“That fits what happened on Sunday night and it didn’t feel like we had to add the suspension.”
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