NASCAR appears to have put itself in a corner again, as the final lap at Richmond Raceway can attest to. Austin Dillon found himself in a position to win his way into the playoffs. Dillon was 32nd overall in the standings and gave it everything he had to make something happen, but all he did was cause controversy.
Dillon’s move certainly wasn’t good for all parties involved as he wrecked Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin to win the Cook Out 400 at Richmond on Sunday Night. Was it fair or foul, who’s to say, but certainly those involved and many throughout the rest of the field are pretty torn on what happened last night.
AUSTIN DILLON SLAMS INTO JOEY LOGANO!
HE WINS AT RICHMOND. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/6fCmEzG6WC
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) August 12, 2024
This has been the new theme in NASCAR, wrecking others on purpose to win a race, or for a certain spot in the field. It’s not a great path, unfortunately. It’s no secret that controversy has long been part of the sport, but this new trend of wrecking others is not good for the new drivers trying to make a name for themselves.
NASCAR likes drama, especially in the era of the playoffs, but what Dillon did isn’t sitting well with a lot of drivers and teams for that matter.
Logano climbed out of his car super hot after getting to the pit lane. He vented his frustration to the media, including Jim Utter from motorsport.com.
” When you get that far ahead that’s three to four car lengths ahead into (turn) 3. I even backed up the entry. I was like, ‘I’ll just wrap the bottom here. I’m good.’ And he just drives in so hard,” Logano said. “Obviously, he didn’t make the turn because he hit me and (Hamlin) was going to win the race, so he had no intention to race. I beat him fair and square on the restart and he just pulls a chicken shit move. He’s a piece of crap. He sucks. He’s sucked his whole career and now he’s going to be in the playoffs. Good for him, I guess.”
Joey Logano had some words for Austin Dillon after being bumped and losing in the final lap 😳 pic.twitter.com/g4KTULkAFK
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) August 12, 2024
Denny Hamlin More Mad at NASCAR, than Dillon
As for where Denny Hamlin stands on what happened, he doesn’t blame the guy for trying to make something happen. He did call out NASCAR for their lack of rules preventing such a situation. Right rear hooks have been a common issue for the Cup Series for the past several seasons. Hamlin isn’t off base in his thoughts, because there is a problem, and NASCAR doesn’t seem to care.
Hamlin made a point to Fox Sports’ Bob Pockrass, that NASCAR has put itself in this situation based on the format of the playoffs and the win and your in mindset.
” We’ve gotten here because this is what we’ve set up,” Hamlin said. “We’ve set up eliminations and playoffs and knockouts and one race for a championship. We’re trying to manufacture these type of moments, and when we do it and we look silly like tonight, the sport has mud on it’s face.”
Denny has been a very outspoken driver for many years now, but he certainly made a valid point last night.
A Review is Underway by NASCAR, but don’t expect anything
Dillon isn’t going to lose the win it appears, but NASCAR has made it clear that they have to look at what happened closer. Especially since there appears to be audio of someone of Dillon’s crew telling him to wreck, Hamlin. It’s too early to speculate on if that could result in some form of punishment for Dillon, or his team. NASCAR Vice President of Competition Elton Sawyer made it clear that they will be looking into it.
” The last lap was awful close to the line,” Sawyer said. “We’ll take a look at all the available resources from audio to video – we’ll listen to the spotters, crew chiefs, and drivers. If anything rises to a level that we think we need to penalize, we will do that on Tuesday,”
The audio certainly doesn’t help Dillon’s cause, but until NASCAR releases a statement later this week. It’s almost playoff time in NASCAR and this controversy is probably just the beginning. It’s not like NASCAR will do anything about it right?
