NASCAR's Elton Sawyer addresses potential fate of Joey Logano's actions during Richmond incident

Recently, Elton Sawyer shared his take on Joey Logano's post-race safety violation on the pit road in retaliation for the final-lap wreck caused by Austin Dillon. Logano was eyeing a potential second win of the season when Dillon nudged him from the rear to take the checkered flag.

The Cook Out 400 race at Richmond witnessed Richard Childress Racing driver Dillon claiming his maiden win after a thrilling final-lap battle, wrecking Penske's Logano and Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin. As a result, #22 Logano was spotted burning his tires on the pit road while #3 Dillon and his crew were celebrating the snapped 68-race winless streak.

In a post-race interview, NASCAR Senior VP of Competitions, Sawyer, opined on the incident and gave his two cents on the two-time Cup Series champion Logano's action. When asked about the "throttling", Sawyer said:

"Yeah, we'll take, you know, we don't want to make a split-second decision and get it wrong. So we want to make sure we go back and we'll look at everything that happened on the last lap and post-race and see if any penalties need to be issued."

Moreover, on Dillon's controversial win, Sawyer claimed that the last-lap wreck happened in the blink of an eye and it was "close" to crossing the line.

"I mean, it happened fast, but I would say if you if you look at that, that's in my view, that's getting right up really close to crossing the line," Sawyer said.

Logano was the leader when the frontrunners crossed the white flag, however, the wreck made him finish at P19. On the other hand, #11 Hamlin, the pole-sitter at Richmond, was also a victim of Dillon's contact and ended up in the runner-up spot.

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NASCAR VP Elton Sawyer not ruling out the possibility of a penalty

Austin Dillon, who had everything at stake, showed his aggressive racing style and booked his berth for the 2024 NASCAR playoffs. While some former drivers deemed it Dale Earnhardt's racing style, others opposed #3 Dillon's last-lap move.

In a post-race interaction with Bob Pockrass, NASCAR's Sawyer shared his take on the possibility of a penalty for the action, saying:

"Our sport has been a contact sport for a long time. We always hear, 'Where's the line?' and 'Did someone cross the line?' I would say that the last lap, it was awful close to the line. We'll take a look at all the available resources from audio to video, we'll listen to the spotter, we'll listen to crew chiefs and drivers, and if anything rises to a level that we feel like we need to penalize, then we'll do that on Tuesday."

Here's a look at the final lap battle at the Richmond Raceway on August 11: