As Austin Dillon spun Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin to win Sunday’s Cook Out 400 at Richmond, it’s fun to wonder what NASCAR Hall of Famer Ricky Rudd was thinking.
After Dillon spun Logano and hooked Hamlin into the outside wall, it was the No. 3 car that came out of the smoke smelling like a rose. As NASCAR fans went to sleep on Sunday night, the win stood, despite outcry from fans that Dillon should be stripped of both the win and his berth in the 2024 Cup Series playoffs.
As it sits on Tuesday, Dillon’s victory being taken away seems very unlikely, even as NASCAR’s Tuesday evening penalty report looms in the later hours of the day. There was a time, however, as Mr. Rudd will remember when NASCAR had no qualms about taking away race wins for offenses of reckless driving.
Sonoma Raceway, 1991:
On June 9, 1991, the NASCAR Winston Cup Series visited the winding road course of Sonoma, then one of just two road course races on the Cup Series schedule. At the time, Rudd drove Hendrick Motorsports’ flagship No. 5 entry, and it was the blazing yellow and orange “Tide Ride” that found itself on the pole for Sunday’s race.
Despite Rudd sitting on the pole, it was 1989 Winston Cup champion Rusty Wallace who would dominate the race for the majority of the day, leading 45 of the race’s 74 laps. However, a plug wire issue caused Wallace’s No. 2 car to lose a cylinder with less than 10 laps to go, relegating Wallace to a distant third-place finish.
As the race wound down, it was road course ringer Tom Kendall – who was filling in for an injured Kyle Petty – who held the race lead After contact with second-place Mark Martin caused Kendall to suffer a flat tire with two laps to go, however, Kendall’s bid for the race win was effectively over, and he limped the No. 42 car home to an 18th place finish. Martin would spin after said contact with Kendallblack-flagged and would bring his No. 6 home in ninth place.
After the contact between the top two, it was Davey Allison who had inherited the race lead, with Rudd trailing close behind in second. As the pair entered the final turn with two laps laps to go, Rudd was close enough to make a move.
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The Penalty:
The rest, as they say, is history. While Allison got his No. 28 Havoline Ford pointed in the right direction, Rudd drove off. Unaware that he had received a penalty from NASCAR and was being told by the sanctioning body to serve a pass-through penalty. As the field roared around the California road course for the final time, it seemed as if Rudd was going to benefit from a “dump n’ run” move at the buzzer.
As the No. 5 crossed the finish line on the final lap, however, Rudd’s crew stared in horror. Rather than being shown the checkered flag, Rudd was instead given the black flag. Rudd had to watch in his rearview mirror as Allison was instead shown the checkered flag and awarded the race win.
Fellow Hall of Famer Waddell Wilson was Rudd’s crew chief on that day and seemed to be in a state of confusion after the race.
“I’ve been racing since ’63, and this about one of the darndest calls I’ve seen made in a long time,” Wilson told ESPN’s Jerry Punch. “They’ve told us in the driver’s meeting, ‘the last lap, you’re on your own.’ Ricky was not driving dirty. He touched him, sure, but in a hairpin curve, and I could’ve pushed the 28 car around with my hands.”
Rudd still finished second on that sunny Sonoma afternoon. The 1991 Banquet Frozen Foods 300 will forever stand as the race fans point to whenever the issue of in-race disqualification comes about. NASCAR missed their chance to strip Dillon of his victory on Sunday evening. Any disqualification is now contingent on Tuesday’s penalty report.
