END OF AN ERA: NASCAR Has Officially Depart Chase Elliott due to……..

END OF AN ERA: NASCAR Has Officially Depart Chase Elliott due to……..

Three days later, the Richard Childress Racing driver still had the trophy and the winner’s check but not much else as NASCAR revoked the automatic playoff berth.

Dillon was also docked 25 points in the standings and his spotter, Brandon Benesch, was suspended for three races. Benesch’s suspension was reduced to one race, and he already has served it as he missed last week’s race at Michigan.

NASCAR rules allow for that decision as the playoff eligibility requirements state: “Race finishes must be unencumbered by violation(s) of the NASCAR Rules or other action(s) detrimental to stock car auto racing or NASCAR as determined in the sole discretion of NASCAR.”

The appeals panel determined the rule was applicable to this situation.

“NASCAR represents elite motorsports and, as such, its drivers are expected to demonstrate exemplary conduct if its series’ championships are to be validated. In this case, the ‘line’ was crossed,” the panel said in a statement.

Hearing the appeal were former NASCAR truck team owner Tom DeLoach, former racing engineer Tommy Wheeler and transportation equipment company executive Kelly Housby.

RCR and Dillon will take the case to Final Appeal Officer Bill Mullis, the owner of Langley (Va.) Speedway. He is expected to hear the final appeal within the next week.

“Richard Childress Racing is disappointed in the results of today’s hearing in front of the National Motorsports Appeals Panel,” the team said in a statement “We respect the NASCAR appeals process, but we do not believe that today’s outcome reflects the facts presented. We plan to appeal the decision to the Final Appeal Officer.”

Dillon said last week he was optimistic about the appeal of the decision, a decision that followed a race where Dillon appeared he would cruise to victory when a caution came out with just a couple of laps remaining. Logano got a good jump on the restart and had enough of an advantage that he thought he would be able to hold off Dillon, who went into Turn 3 and turned Logano. Hamlin ducked to the inside to get by Logano and as they raced to the finish line, Dillon hooked Hamlin in the right rear.

Dillon indicated he was just flooring his throttle and didn’t intend to turn Hamlin.

“I was just trying to get to him,” Dillon said following the race about Logano. “I went into Turn 3 in fifth gear and drove in, tried to get him loose, got him up the track. I got the car downshifted, and the car actually turned pretty good when I did that.

“When I was coming back left, the 11 [of Hamlin] was coming. That was just kind of a reaction. … I wasn’t lifting at that point because I was more looking at where the 22 [of Logano] was. When the 11 came across, it was just reaction.”

Hamlin said the data was clear the contact was intentional.

“When he is getting told to come down [by his spotter], he is doing what he is told and then when he sees me, he’s probably just trying to make contact,” Hamlin said. “But at that point, I nearly had him cleared. The right rear is just a vulnerable spot and can put you in a bad wreck position.”

After issuing the penalty last week, NASCAR Senior Vice President Elton Sawyer said those moves should not be acceptable to win a championship.

“The No. 1 thing is that we want to make sure that we are protecting the integrity of our playoffs as well as our championship when we get to [the final race at] Phoenix,” Sawyer said.

“And we want to make sure that our competitors understand — we want them to make all the decisions, we want them to be able to race hard, that’s what our sport has been about for 75-plus years — but we also want them to understand, and I believe that each and every one of them understands, that this crossed the line.”

Dillon, 29th in the standings, can still make the playoffs with a win either this weekend at Daytona or the following weekend at Darlington.

Saturday’s race at Martinsville marks the seventh race of the Xfinity Series season, but last time out, the trend of a different winner at each race was broken, with Justin Allgaier taking his second win in as many weeks at Homestead.

Allgaier took the lead on the final lap of overtime and held off Sam Mayer to take the victory after Cup Series star Kyle Larson’s chances of the win were scuppered when Mayer got into the back of him at the restart and lifted the wheels of the No. 17 car off the ground.

Following back-to-back wins, Allgaier now tops the Xfinity Series standings heading into the weekend, with Mayer in second.

Jesse Love, Austin Hill and Sheldon Creed round out the top five at present.With that said, let’s get into all the details regarding today’s qualifying session and how you can watch all of the action unfold live.

“I decided to actually learn how to play golf about 2 years ago. Of course it’s a little seasonal, mostly for heat in AZ but also work and skiing! I thought I finally had it figured out last fall.

Then I forgot how to hit my driver to start the year off…. Until about 10 days ago. I remembered just as mysteriously as I forgot,” she captioned an Instagram post.

Patrick is the most successful woman in auto racing history. She made history when she became the first female driver to win a pole in the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR’s highest level. She retired in 2018.

The decision to reposition Truex Jr. and Gibbs—both representing Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR)—comes after precautionary modifications to their engines’ plug wires. Detected by Toyota Racing Development crewmen, these pre-race adjustments aimed to prevent potential issues.

Both drivers’ cars, Truex’s No. 19 Toyota and Gibbs’ No. 54 Toyota, underwent similar modifications that had previously impacted the engine of another Joe Gibbs Racing driver, Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota, resulting in his last-place qualifying result.

In terms of qualifying performance, Gibbs had initially secured the highest position among Toyota drivers, landing 20th after the single-lap time trials on Saturday. However, with the mandatory engine plug wire changes, both he and Truex will now start the Quaker State 400 from the rear, facing an arduous task to move up the ranks.