“You Cannot Take the Win Away”: Did NASCAR Miss the Perfect Opportunity to Set a Precedent?

Austin Dillon’s controversial win at the Richmond Raceway has a lot of fans asking one question – will NASCAR take his win away? While it could happen, Kenny Wallace believes that it is too late for the governing body to do so. The driver has already been to victory lane, celebrated with his family, and taken the trophy home. For them to come out three days after the race and take the win away would not be right as per ‘The Hermanator’. There could however be serious repercussions for the spotter of the #3.

Dillon’s spotter was heard saying “wreck him” on the team radio right before Dillon hooked Denny Hamlin and sent him into the wall. NASCAR could become a lot more strict with what the rules of engagement are after the events of Richmond which could have both a good and a bad impact on the sport.

As far as Wallace is concerned, they missed a crucial opportunity to imply their rules on the day of the race or the day after. It just does not make sense to do it so late according to the former driver.

“The reason they missed this opportunity…see if they really wanted to do something they would have done it right then. They can’t let you go to Victory Lane and then take the win away. So the win’s gonna stand. You cannot take the win away because you already let him go to Victory Lane,” the NASCAR veteran explained.

The Richmond finish has a lot of fans and insiders divided. Some believe that the Richard Childress Racing driver did not do the right thing. Others have drawn comparisons to Dale Earnhardt Sr. who has wrecked drivers to win races during his time in the sport. Wallace believes that both sides of the coin make sense.

Wallace speaks his mind on Dillon-Dale Sr. comparisons

The veteran race car driver has been around for a long time and it was with Earnhardt’s help that he got into NASCAR. He has seen first-hand how ‘The Intimidator’ used to drive and believes that there were shades of that with Dillon’s last-lap maneuver. However, that does not mean he did the right thing. The only thing that is left to be seen is how NASCAR perceives the whole situation.

“So what I see right there…I’m old enough that I see shades of the past. Austin Dillon was wrong. I’m going to admit it was wrong. But we watched Dale Senior do that to Terry Labonte at Bristol. The Flying Aces were there to back him up, and that’s what you saw. You saw that team; they didn’t care,” he explained.

As Wallace said, it is unlikely that Dillon will have the race win stripped away but there certainly will be other penalties, or so a large chunk of the fan base hopes.