A Right Hook is a Right Hook

Dillon snapped his 68-race winless streak in the Cup Series’ return from a two-week hiatus for the Olympics. Because the caution flew before the checkered, Hamlin was still credited with a second-place finish. Tyler Reddick wound up third, while bubble battlers Bubba Wallace and Ross Chastain finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

What Really Happened?

Well, this just opened up a can of worms.

Over the last two seasons, NASCAR has tightened up its officiating surrounding rough driving and intentionally wrecking people. This new precedent began when Wallace right hooked Kyle Larson at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2022.

Carson Hocevar earned a two-lap penalty for attempting a right hook in the 2023 spring Martinsville Speedway Craftsman Truck Series race. A few months later, Chase Elliott served a suspension of his own for right hooking of Hamlin at Charlotte Motor Speeedway.

While Corey Heim sought justice against Hocevar in the Truck Series’ championship race at Phoenix Raceway last fall, NASCAR slapped him with a fine and points penalty.

The Nashville Superspeedway weekend saw a double dish of penalties. The first rough driving penalty came in the truck race for Layne Riggs after he dumped Stefan Parsons. Hocevar was penalized again, this time in the Cup Series, for spinning Harrison Burton under caution. A week later, Wallace incurred another penalty for door slamming Alex Bowman on the Chicago cool down lap.

It might be time to set another precedent.

We can debate the ethics of Dillon’s dumping of Logano all we want. Overdriving a corner to hit someone is nothing new, and the Next Gen car requires pretty strong contact to move someone up the track.

Logano had every right to be upset because Dillon’s move on the No. 22 was definitely dirty. But what he did next was downright egregious.

After overdriving the corner, the No. 11 team saw their prediction come true. Unfortunately, their crystal ball didn’t include Dillon hooking Hamlin into the fence. For a split second, it did look like Hamlin drifted up a bit….