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NASCAR revokes Dillon's playoff eligibility; driver keeps controversial Richmond win

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NASCAR revokes Dillon's playoff eligibility; driver keeps controversial Richmond win
News

News

NASCAR revokes Dillon's playoff eligibility; driver keeps controversial Richmond win

2024-08-15 06:04 Last Updated At:06:10

Austin Dillon’s automatic spot in NASCAR’s playoff was revoked — though he retained his victory at Richmond Raceway — after it was determined the driver “crossed a line” in his intentional last-lap wreck of drivers Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin.

Dillon won for the first time in nearly two years in the Cup Series on Sunday night, but the checkered flag seemed out of reach before he spun Logano out of the way and then sent Hamlin into the wall as well — all in the final few seconds.

Logano and Hamlin railed against Dillon’s aggressiveness and the highlight-reel finish set off days of controversy in NASCAR.

NASCAR said Wednesday that Dillon committed “actions detrimental to stock car auto racing” in its decision to kick him out of a spot in the 16-driver field. There are three Cup Series races left before the field is set, starting Sunday at Michigan International Speedway.

Elton Sawyer, the senior vice president of competition, said NASCAR considered suspending Dillon for his actions. Dillon and the Richard Childress Racing No. 3 team also were docked 25 points in both the drivers’ and owners’ standings. Dillon dropped from 26th to 31st in the driver standings.

Dillon’s spotter, Brandon Benesch, was suspended for three races for yelling “wreck him!” over the radio as the driver battled with Hamlin down the stretch.

“The No. 1 thing is we want to make sure is we're protecting the integrity of the playoffs as well as our championship when we get to Phoenix,” Sawyer said.

RCR said it would appeal, stating on social media it was “ very disappointed ” in NASCAR's decision.

In NASCAR's view, Dillon's moves went beyond the hard-racing ethos that's been part of the Cup Series' DNA since its 1948 inception.

Logano also was fined $50,000 for smoking his tires on pit road as he drove by Dillon and his team.

“It’s ridiculous that that’s the way we race. Unbelievable,” Logano said Sunday. “I get bump and runs. I do that. I would expect it. But from four car lengths back, he was never going to make the corner. And then he wrecks the other car. He wrecks the 11 to go with it. What a piece of crap.”

Dillon said he was trying to move Logano’s car, but hitting Hamlin as well was more of an instant reaction.

“I’ve seen Denny and Joey make moves that have been running people up the track to win,” Dillon said. “This was the first opportunity in two years for me to be able to get a win. ... I’ve seen a lot of stuff over the years in NASCAR where people move people, and it’s just part of our sport.”

It was his first win since Aug. 28, 2022, at Daytona. He had just two top-10 finishes this year. Dillon emerged from all the chaos with a victory in his No. 3 Chevrolet. That number was famously driven — often aggressively — by Dale Earnhardt.

“That's not the way we want our races to end,” Sawyer said. “That's not the way we want to decide a champion. That's not the way we want to decide an event.”

The win-and-you’re-in nature of postseason qualification means the difference between first place and second can be massive. In this case — in the moment, at least — it meant the difference for Dillon between another lost season and a championship chase.

“The record book won’t care, right, about what happened,” Hamlin said on pit road Sunday. “He’s going to be credited with the win.”

He will — the fifth of Dillons's career over 395 Cup starts. The victory won't mean much if Dillon is just racing out the string once the final 10-race postseason starts Sept. 8 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

NASCAR has run into a spate of contentious finishes over the last few years that forced the sanctioning body to step in and discipline drivers.

NASCAR suspended Bubba Wallace for one race in 2022 after an investigation determined he deliberately spun Kyle Larson at Las Vegas in a “dangerous act” of retaliation. A year later, Chase Elliott was suspended for one race after he deliberately wrecked Hamlin in the Coca-Cola 600.

“Each individual situation is different,” Sawyer said. “When we looked at this in the totality, we felt like the penalty have issued the 3 and the 3 owner ... that fits what happened on Sunday night. We didn't feel like we needed to add the suspension to it.”

Sawyer apologized for the delay in ruling and said NASCAR would like to get to a point where there are more “on-the-spot” decisions when issuing punishments.

Dillon, of course, could regain a playoff spot with a victory in any of the next three races. Entering Michigan, 12 drivers have their spot secured with four spots open. Martin Truex Jr., Ty Gibbs, Wallace and Chris Buescher hold the final four spots on points. Michigan, Daytona International Speedway and Darlington Raceway close NASCAR's regular season.

AP NASCAR: https://apnews.com/hub/nascar-racing

FILE - Austin Dillon during the NASCAR Daytona 500 auto race media day Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File)

FILE - Austin Dillon during the NASCAR Daytona 500 auto race media day Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File)

NASCAR revokes Dillon's playoff eligibility; driver keeps controversial Richmond win

NASCAR revokes Dillon's playoff eligibility; driver keeps controversial Richmond win

NASCAR revokes Dillon's playoff eligibility; driver keeps controversial Richmond win

NASCAR revokes Dillon's playoff eligibility; driver keeps controversial Richmond win

ROME (AP) — Human rights groups voiced outrage Wednesday after Italy released a Libyan warlord on a technicality, after he was arrested on a warrant from the International Criminal Court accusing him of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The Hague-based court, for its part, issued a more diplomatic response but its anger appeared evident. In a stern statement late Wednesday, the ICC reminded Italy that it is obliged to “cooperate fully” with its prosecutions and said it was still awaiting information about what exactly Rome had done.

The reaction came after the Italian government on Tuesday released and sent back home Ossama Anjiem, also known as Ossama al-Masri, who heads the Tripoli branch of the Reform and Rehabilitation Institution, a notorious network of detention centers run by the government-backed Special Defense Force.

Al-Masri had been arrested Sunday in Turin, where he reportedly had attended the Juventus-Milan soccer match the night before. The ICC warrant, dated the day before, accused al-Masri of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the Mitiga prison in Libya starting in 2015 that are punishable with life in prison.

The ICC said he was accused of murder, torture, rape and sexual violence. It said the warrant was transmitted to member states on Saturday, including Italy, and that the court had also provided real-time information that he had entered Europe.

The court said it had reminded Italy at the time to contact it “without delay” if it ran into any problems cooperating with the warrant.

But Rome’s court of appeals ordered al-Masri freed Tuesday, and he was sent back to Libya aboard an aircraft of the Italian secret services, because of what the appeals court said was a procedural error in his arrest. The ruling said Justice Minister Carlo Nordio should have been informed ahead of time, since the justice ministry handles all relations with the ICC.

The ICC said it had not been given prior notice of the Rome court's decision, as required, and “is seeking, and is yet to obtain, verification from the authorities on the steps reportedly taken.”

Al-Masri returned to Tripoli late Tuesday, received at the Mitiga airport by supporters who celebrated his release, according to local media. Footage circulated online showed dozens of young men chanting and carrying what appeared to be al-Masri on their shoulders.

“This is a stunning blow to victims, survivors and international justice and a missed opportunity to break the cycle of impunity in Libya,” said Amnesty International’s Esther Major, deputy director of research for Europe.

Nordio appeared in the Senate on Wednesday for a previously-scheduled briefing, and was grilled by outraged opposition lawmakers who demanded clarity about what happened. Former Premier Matteo Renzi accused the right-wing government of hypocrisy given its stated crackdown on human traffickers.

“But when a trafficker whom the International Criminal Court tells us is a dangerous criminal lands on your table, it’s not like you chase him down, you brought him home to Libya with a plane of the Italian secret services,” said Renzi of the Italia Viva party. “Either you’ve gone crazy or this is the image of a hypocritical, indecent government.”

The Democratic Party demanded Premier Giorgia Meloni respond specifically to parliament about the case, saying it raised “grave questions” given the known abuses in Libyan prisons for which al-Masri is accused. Nordio didn't respond.

Italy has close ties to the internationally recognized government in Tripoli, on whom it relies to patrol its coasts and prevent waves of migrants from leaving. Any trial in The Hague of al-Masri could bring unwanted attention to Italy’s migration policies and its support of the Libyan coast guard, which it has financed to prevent migrants from leaving.

Human rights groups have documented gross abuses in the Libyan detention facilities where migrants are kept, and have accused Italy of being complicit in their mistreatment.

Two humanitarian groups, Mediterranea Saving Humans and Refugees in Libya, which have documented abuses committed against migrants in Libyan detention facilities, said they were incredulous that Italy let al-Masri go.

David Yambio, a 27-year-old from South Sudan who said he was abused by al-Masri while he was detained at the Mitiga prison in 2019-2020, said he felt betrayed by Italy. Yambio, who eventually escaped from the prison and arrived in Italy on a smuggler’s boat in 2022, said he had a “fleeting feeling of justice” when he heard that al-Masri had been arrested in Turin.

“Those who waited long before me, the Libyans who are victims of his criminal network, his war crimes, have been wanting for this day to come,” said Yambio, who received asylum and now lives in Modena and runs his Refugees in Libya advocacy group. “But when it came, it was immediately extinguished hours before it could even truly be felt in our hearts.”

But Tarik Lamloum, a Libyan activist working with the Belaady Organization for Human Rights which focuses on migrants in Libya, said Italy’s release of al-Masri was expected. He said his release shows the power of militias who control the flow of migrants to Europe through Libya’s shores.

“Tripoli militias are able to pressure (Italy) because they control the migrants file,” he told The Associated Press.

Militias in western Libya are part of the official state forces tasked with intercepting migrants at sea, including in the EU-trained coast guard. They also run state detention centers, where abuses of migrants are common.

As a result, militias — some of them led by warlords the U.N. has sanctioned for abuses — benefit from millions in funds the European Union gives to Libya to stop the migrant flow to Europe.

The European Commission spokesman reaffirmed all EU members had pledged to cooperate with the court.

“We respect the court’s impartiality and we are fully attached to international criminal justice to combat impunity," said EU commission spokesman Anouar El Anouni. In a 2023 summit, the EU leaders committed “to cooperate fully with the court, including rapid execution of any pending arrests,” he added.

Magdy reported from Cairo. Paolo Santalucia in Rome and Molly Quell in The Hague contributed.

FILE - View of the ICC, the International Criminal Court, in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)

FILE - View of the ICC, the International Criminal Court, in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)

Former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi makes his remarks during Justice Minister Carlo Nordio's appearance at the Senate for the report on the justice administration, in Rome, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (Roberto Monaldo//LaPresse via AP)

Former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi makes his remarks during Justice Minister Carlo Nordio's appearance at the Senate for the report on the justice administration, in Rome, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (Roberto Monaldo//LaPresse via AP)

Former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi makes his remarks during Justice Minister Carlo Nordio's appearance at the Senate for the report on the justice administration, in Rome, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (Roberto Monaldo//LaPresse via AP)

Former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi makes his remarks during Justice Minister Carlo Nordio's appearance at the Senate for the report on the justice administration, in Rome, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (Roberto Monaldo//LaPresse via AP)

Justice Minister Carlo Nordio addresses the Senate during the report on the justice administration, in Rome, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (Roberto Monaldo//LaPresse via AP)

Justice Minister Carlo Nordio addresses the Senate during the report on the justice administration, in Rome, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (Roberto Monaldo//LaPresse via AP)

Justice Minister Carlo Nordio puts his hand to his head during the presentation of the report on the justice administration, at the Senate, in Rome, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (Roberto Monaldo//LaPresse via AP)

Justice Minister Carlo Nordio puts his hand to his head during the presentation of the report on the justice administration, at the Senate, in Rome, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (Roberto Monaldo//LaPresse via AP)

Justice Minister Carlo Nordio addresses the Senate during the report on the justice administration, in Rome, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (Roberto Monaldo//LaPresse via AP)

Justice Minister Carlo Nordio addresses the Senate during the report on the justice administration, in Rome, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (Roberto Monaldo//LaPresse via AP)

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