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A NASCAR appeals officer on Monday upheld a penalty assessed to Austin Dillon for his overly aggressive driving at Richmond Raceway, meaning Dillon will not be in the Cup Series playoffs unless he wins the final race of the regular season Sunday.
The decision to deny Dillon and Richard Childress Racing’s appeal came from appeals officer Bill Mullis. It strips Dillon’s automatic playoff berth for his victory, which came on Aug. 11 after he wrecked Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano coming out of the final turn and headed for the finish line.
It was Dillon’s first victory in two years.
Three days after the race, NASCAR announced that Dillon could keep the prize money and trophy, but took away his spot in the 16-driver playoffs.
Dillon’s initial appeal was denied last week by a three-member panel, after which Dillon took the case to Mullis.
Mullis is the owner of Langley Speedway, a short track in Hampton, Virginia, and was appointed NASCAR’s final appeal adjudicator for the 2024 season.
Dillon is 29th in the current Cup series points standings.
As a result of Monday’s ruling, three playoff spots remain open headed into Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, the final race of the regular season. A total of five drivers still could win the last three spots, or only two if there is a new winner Sunday.
Based on points, drivers hanging on to playoff spots include Martin Truex Jr., Ty Gibbs, Chris Buescher, Bubba Wallace and Ross Chastain.
Click on nascar.com/standings/nascar-cup-series for the current standings.
Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on X @MikeOrganWriter.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Austin Dillon loses final appeal, stripped of NASCAR Cup playoff berth
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