NASCAR officials announced Wednesday afternoon that Austin Dillon is no longer locked into the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs following his controversial victory Sunday at Richmond Raceway. The announcement comes after Dillon made contact with both Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin on the final lap of the Cook Out 400. 

Dillon's victory will stand in the record book; however, his automatic berth for the playoffs that came with winning the race has been revoked by NASCAR. The rescinded playoff eligibility for Sunday’s win applies to both the drivers’ and owners’ championship.

Dillon will still be eligibile to qualify for the playoffs if he wins one of the final three races prior to the start of the playoffs. 

NEWS: @austindillon3’s win at @RichmondRaceway will not count toward #NASCARPlayoffs eligibility in both the driver and owner championships.

NASCAR states that Dillon violated its playoff eligibility rule and loses benefits of the win. pic.twitter.com/5R5AzOOA45

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 14, 2024

Additionally, Dillon and the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing team have been penalized 25 points in the driver and championship standings. 

Elton Sawyer, NASCAR senior vice president of competition, explained that the decision came after reviewing the data and making a conclusion "that a line had been crossed." 

“I think in all due respect to the appeal process, we looked at this and the totality of everything that happened as you enter Turn 3 and as the cars got to the start/finish line,” Sawyer said. “So, as we look through all of that data, we came to the conclusion that a line had been crossed. Our sport has been based going for many, many years, forever, on good, hard racing. Contact has been acceptable. We felt like, in this case, that the line was crossed.”

Brandon Benesch, the spotter for the RCR No. 3, has also been suspended three races for his involvement in the finish. NASCAR confirmed through the review process that Benesch instructed Dillon to "wreck him" as he battled Hamlin for the win down the frontstretch. 

“If you look at at the crew chief and you look at the spotter, and view them as calming voices in the driver’s ear, in this case, we just felt like we’ve all listened to the audio," Sawyer explained. "We know exactly what was said. We just felt like that that’s not what we need spotters doing. That’s not what we need (from a) crew chief sitting on the box. They’re a calming voice to what the situation is in front of them, and they’re supposed to be spotting for the race, not making comments like were made, as we all know.”

Logano was fined $50,000 for his action on pit road that involved spinning the tires near the RCR No. 3 team's pit box while team members were celebrating over the wall.