Austin Dillon’s penalty this past weekend has been described by many as unprecedented. Dillon lost his playoff spot for wrecking Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin at the end of Sunday night’s Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway. It’s the first time since 2018 that a driver’s win will not count towards playoff eligibility. Typically, NASCAR does not penalize drivers for aggressive moves like a “bump and run” or making contact, but what Dillon did was unlike anything we’ve seen before, forcing NASCAR’s hand.
It’s not the first time the sport has witnessed an unprecedented moment. In fact, since the turn of the decade, NASCAR has seen many instances where they have become common, ironically enough. So, let’s wind the clocks back and take a look at the top five unprecedented NASCAR moments of the 2020s.
During the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway, Hamlin crossed the finish line first for this third win of the season, with Busch finishing in second. However, after failing post-race inspection, both teams were disqualified from the race, handing the win to Chase Elliott, who originally finished third. It marked the first time since 1960 that NASCAR had disqualified a race winner in the Cup Series, ending a 62-year streak. In addition, the result marked the first time since 1955 that both the original first- and second-place drivers were DQ’ed and the first time this century a driver won a Cup Series race without leading a lap.
NASCAR introduced its disqualification rule in 2019, where a car that fails post-race inspection would be disqualified and credited with a last-place finish. They had DQ’d winners in the Truck and Xfinity Series and even Jimmie Johnson’s second-place finish at the 2020 Coca-Cola 600, but not a Cup win until then. NASCAR has not disqualified a Cup win since, but on that day in 2022, the sport saw something that it hadn’t seen in the modern era, earning its place on this list.
Staying in 2022, if the Hamlin/Busch DQs were unprecedented, the “Hail Melon” made everyone forget about the post-race results at Pocono. On the final lap of the 2022 Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway, Ross Chastain, desperate to make the Championship 4, rode the outside wall full throttle to secure a fourth-place finish to lock himself into the Championship 4 race. The move was described as a “video game move” and left not just NASCAR but all of sports in awe of what Chastain had pulled off.
Not only is this move something never seen before, but it will never be seen again as NASCAR essentially banned the “Hail Melon” before the 2023 season. But the move was heard all over the sports world. Even to this day, fans talk about what Chastain did and show what making the Championship 4 means to the drivers. Jeff Burton said it best, “I have never seen anything like that before in my life,” as the “Hail Melon” was truly something to behold.
The number three spot on this list involves the driver of the No. 3. After a late caution that set up overtime, Logano beat Dillon on the restart to take the lead. Going into turn three, Dillon got into the back of the No. 22, spinning him out from three car lengths back. Hamlin came out with a brief lead, but the No. 3 right hooked the No. 11 into the outside wall, giving Dillon his first win of the season and locking himself into the playoffs. Celebrations were short-lived, however, as NASCAR penalized No. 3 by stripping the win of its guaranteed playoff eligibility for his last-lap antics. AD3 went from a season-saving win to right back where he started prior to the checkered flag.
This was unprecedented for multiple reasons. First, Dillon wrecked not just one but two cars in order to win. It’s typical to see bump-and-runs over even dump-and-runs for race wins in NASCAR, but only one driver ends up with bent sheet metal at the end of it. Taking out two drivers is what made this new and caused an uproar among fans and drivers, saying Dillon crossed the line.
Second was NASCAR’s decision. Since this had not been seen before, many weren’t sure how the sport would respond to what Dillon did. NASCAR typically doesn’t take wins away or encumber them for aggressive contact, but they felt the No. 3 team crossed the line and chose to penalize them in a way that hasn’t been done before. The 2024 Cook Out 400 finish was something to behold, and the consequences are likely to be felt not just this season but for many in the future.
NASCAR’s first-ever street race could be on the list by itself. But no one in the sport could have predicted the outcome. After historic rain and darkness awaiting the track, three-time Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen (SVG) outlasted the rest of the field to win the inaugural Grant Park 220, becoming the first driver to win his first Cup Series start since 1963 and the first in the modern era. In one day, SVG turned from a one-off road course ringer to doing something that hadn’t been done in 60 years and likely won’t happen again.
The Cup Series is not one where drivers find early success. Even drivers with extensive stock car experience take a few years to become consistent race winners and championship contenders. That’s what makes SVG’s win so unprecedented. He had never raced in a NASCAR stock car before, yet not only ran top-five all day but beat the likes of Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, and Kyle Busch to get the win and propel him into stock car racing, where he competes today. We haven’t seen it and will likely never see it again.
The day NASCAR stood still, the sport shut down. Many might forget four years later, but the 2020 COVID lockdowns were unprecedented not just in NASCAR but the entire world. From mid-March to mid-May, there was no racing or anything for that matter. The entire sport was shut down while the world tried to figure out how to move with the pandemic.
Not only was the sport shut down for over two months, but when it returned, it was never the same again. Practice and qualifying were axed for the year, and for a few months, drivers raced to the attendance of zero fans. iRacing became the new norm for the industry during the lockdown and paved the way for tracks like the Chicago Street Course and teams like 23XI Racing. 2020 as a year was unprecedented, but the COVID lockdowns were something never seen before and hopefully never seen again.
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