NASCAR slaps rigorous punishments on Austin Dillon’s crew members for Charlotte incident

Days after the Round of 12 final got done and dusted, NASCAR penalized Austin Dillon's crew members for the detached wheel at Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course. The Richard Childress Racing driver's #3 Chevy's left-front Goodyear compound got dislodged while exiting Turn 4, prompting the officials to take stringent measures against responsible personnel.

Dillon's 33rd race weekend turned from bad to worse after Stage 2 went green. He kicked off the Bank of America ROVAL 400 race from the 22nd and jumped to P17 as the first stage concluded. However, on Lap 30, he turned sideways while steering through the newly reconfigured Turn 7, resulting in a traffic behind.

Calamity struck on the next lap after the pitstop on Lap 80. The RCR driver lost the left front wheel, violating Sections 8.8.10.4. A & C of the NASCAR Rulebook, concerning, “loss or separation of an improperly installed tire/wheel from the vehicle during the event.”

As a result, the officials have suspended Austin Dillon's front-tire changer Joshua Thomas, and jackman Nick Covey, for two races. The duo would miss the Las Vegas Motor Speedway race and the following battle at Homestead-Miami Speedway, marking their return to the pit box at the Martinsville Speedway.

The double whammy of setbacks plummeted Austin Dillon to a 32nd-place finish.

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"This thing was absolutely destroyed": Tyler Reddick commented on how Austin Dillon getting spun at Turn 7 proved disastrous for his #45 Toyota

23XI Racing's Reddick enjoyed the front-row start from P2 and continued his dominance to etch the Stage 1 win. The #45 Toyota driver showed signs of advancing to the next round but suffered a fatal blow, shortly after triumphing the first stage, on Lap 30.

As Austin Dillon's misaligned move quickly cascaded into traffic behind, Reddick took the inside line, trying to make the most of the jammed pack. However, the room wasn't sufficient and he rammed hard into Denny Hamlin's Toyota. The incident broke #45 Toyota's toe link and succumbed to 36th place in Stage 2.

Nonetheless, the 23XI Racing recouped with the frontrunners and crossed the start/finish line, placing 11th. He edged Joey Logano out of the playoffs by merely four points and advanced to the Round of 8.

“Yeah, I thought I was going to flip, but I think I was behind the 19 (Martin Truex Jr.) — trying to work the move to the inside. I got clear of him — I saw the 3 (Dillon) spun and everyone on the binders coming to a stop, and of course, me and my boss (Hamlin) get together. It was like I was going to do a front flip. This thing was absolutely destroyed," Reddick said of Dillon's incident via NASCAR.

NASCAR suspended Alex Bowman for failing post-race inspection, and thus, Logano is back in the playoffs for his third Cup Series championship.