Austin Dillon's Appeal for Playoff Return Denied By NASCAR After Joey Logano Crash

The National Motorsports Appeals Panel denied Austin Dillon's appeal to reinstate his automatic playoff berth on Wednesday, per Jeff Gluck of The Athletic, after NASCAR ruled that he violated the rules during his Cook Out 400 win by intentionally spinning out the pair of Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin

While NASCAR ruled that the win would stand, they decided to take away his automatic playoff berth after determining that a "'line' was crossed" in the final moments of the race.

Richard Childress Racing—which will still have one more opportunity to appeal on behalf of Dillon in front of the Final Appeals Officer, which it said it will do—released the following statement Wednesday:

Dillon said after the race he wasn't thrilled that he had to maneuver into Logano and Hamlin, but that "it's been two years and this is the first car I've had a shot to win," (h/t Yahoo Sports' Nick Bromberg).

"I felt like with two to go, we were the fastest car... I hate to do that but sometimes you just got to have it," he added. "I have to thank the good Lord above. It's been tough over the last two years, man. I care about [Richard Childress Racing], my wife, and this is my first... it means a lot. I hate it, but I had to do it."

But NASCAR senior vice president of competition Elton Sawyer said those late-race tactics went against the spirit of the rules.

"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," he noted. "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."

The three-member National Motorsports Appeals Panel agreed with that assessment.

"NASCAR represents elite motorsports and, as such, its drivers are expected to demonstrate exemplary conduct if its series' championships are to be validated," it noted in a statement. "In this case, the 'line' was crossed."

It's hard to imagine Logano or Hamlin will feel much sympathy for Dillon given their post-race comments:

Additionally, Dillon and his team were penalized in both the drivers' and owners' standings, losing 25 points, while the No. 3 team's spotter, Brandon Benesch, was suspended for three Cup Series races.