NASCAR insiders react to Austin Dillon spotter Brandon Benesch suspension following Richmond

Austin Dillon‘s spotter Brandon Benesch has been suspended by NASCAR, and two top insiders have an issue with it. Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic spoke about the suspension on The Teardown podcast and explained why Benesch shouldn’t be suspended.

“Spotters say a lot of things on the radio,” Bianchi said. “A lot of spotters have said things in the heat of the moment. At the end of the day, the driver’s got the wheel in his hand, I don’t really think you need to issue a suspension. You want to call him the hauler and reprimand him or you want to say ‘Hey listen, spotters, we need to be smarter here and try to keep our emotions in check,’ that’s fine. I don’t know if a three-race suspension is gonna really do that, though.”

Gluck also disagreed with the suspension because he didn’t think it was necessary. “As they talk about on Stacking Pennies, Skip [Flores] was saying at that point Austin Dillon’s not listening to him anyway,” Gluck said. “To me, Austin Dillon was coming down and was just trying to make contact with Denny [Hamlin], wherever that was. He’s gonna door him anyway or where however far alongside him is he’s gonna make contact. I don’t think the spotter has anything to do in that situation. …They already told him do whatever it takes here, and I don’t think you need to… I think the spotter is a little bit of a scapegoat in that situation. I don’t love that one.”

Richard Childress Racing makes decision on Austin Dillon and Brandon Benesch

NASCAR suspended Benesch for the next three Cup Series races after telling Dillon to wreck Hamlin during the final lap of the Cook Out 400 at Richmond on Sunday. Along with Benesch’s suspension, NASCAR revoked Dillon’s automatic playoff berth for wrecking Hamlin and Logano to get the victory. Dillon’s team, Richard Childress Racing (RCR) is planning to appeal Dillon’s penalty but won’t appeal Benesch’s suspension as Brett Griffin will be the spotter for the upcoming race at Michigan.

After the race, Dillon was asked if NASCAR should take the victory away. “ I’ve seen Denny and Joey make moves that have been running people up the track to win,” he said. “This is the first opportunity in two years for me to be able to get a win. I drove in there and kept all four tires turning across the start/finish line.”