Playoff desperation reached a controversial peak a year ago at Virginia’s Richmond Raceway.
At the mercy of securing a victory to make the 16-driver field that competes for the NASCAR Cup Series championship, Austin Dillon wrecked Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin in the final two turns on the last lap and raced to the checkered flag for his first win in nearly two years.
The celebration was short, though, as NASCAR revoked Dillon’s playoff eligibility three days later after determining the Richard Childress Racing driver “crossed a line” with his rough racing.
“NASCAR drew a line in the sand,” Hamlin said Friday. “They’re not afraid to make hard decisions, and I think that’s very, very important to the governing of the sport so it’s not a circus. And so I do feel a little bit better about it now than 12 months ago.”
Hamlin, who drives for Joe Gibbs Racing and co-owns the 23XI Racing team, has been around (this is his 20th season on the top circuit and he turns 45 in November) and has been successful (his 58 career wins are the most in Cup Series history for a driver without a championship), so his opinion carries some weight.