NASCAR is BACK.
The sport has been on a two-week hiatus for the summer Olympics. But tonight, the Cup Series was back in action at Richmond for the first race after the extended break. And in true short track fashion, the tempers were flaring.
It was a fairly uneventful race, with the first caution not coming until 2 laps to go.
Austin Dillon, who came into the race sitting at 32nd in the points and needing a win to make the playoffs, was headed towards a major upset when Ryan Preece and Ricky Stenhouse brought out the caution and set up an overtime finish.
The field came down pit road, and Dillon managed to maintain the lead while Joey Logano came out 2nd and Denny Hamlin in 3rd.
On the final restart, Logano managed to get by the #3 car and looked to be on his way to keeping Richard Childress Racing out of victory lane.
But as they went into turn 3 on the final lap, Dillon decided to dive bomb Logano and put the bumper to him, sending the #22 spinning and opening the door for a drag race between Hamlin and Dillon for the victory.
Or so it seemed…
Dillon wasn’t going to be denied from winning his first race since August 2022, and hooked Hamlin in the right rear to also send the #11 car into the outside wall.
AUSTIN DILLON TURNS JOEY LOGANO TO WIN AT RICHMOND! 👀 pic.twitter.com/R8FXVNrzAK
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) August 12, 2024
The end result was Dillon took the iconic #3 to victory lane – and pissed off Logano and Hamlin.
In his postrace interview, Logano had some harsh words for Dillon and his last lap antics:
“It’s chickenshit, there’s no doubt about it. He’s four car lengths back, not even close, then he wrecks the 11 to go along with it. And then he’s going to go up there and thank God and praise everything with his baby. It’s a bunch of BS.
It’s not even freakin’ close. Dude, I get it, bump and run, I get it. I didn’t back up the corner at all. He came in there and just drove through me. It’s ridiculous that that’s the way we race.
I get bump and runs. I do that. I would expect it. But from 4 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.”
In maybe the angriest NASCAR interview I’ve ever heard, Joey Logano calls Austin Dillon’s move to win “chicken shit” among other things.@AlwaysRaceDay pic.twitter.com/wdSSbfUEku
— Mr Matthew CFB (@MrMatthew_CFB) August 12, 2024
He wasn’t done yet though:
“He’s a piece of crap. He sucks. He’s sucked his whole career, and now he’s going to be in the playoffs.”
“He’s a piece of crap. He sucks. He’s sucked his whole career,”
– @joeylogano on @austindillon3 #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/hFM6LkUUwZ
— Noah Lewis (@Noah_Lewis1) August 12, 2024
And while Hamlin wasn’t quite as heated, he obviously felt the same way:
Denny Hamlin: "Obviously it's foul but it's fair in NASCAR. We're just a different league, where this is no penalty for rough driving. It opens the door for Austin to do whatever he wants … He got credited for the win but he won't go far because you pay your dues back on that"
— PRN (@PRNlive) August 12, 2024
Regardless, Dillon managed to break his 68-race winless streak – and unless NASCAR decides to penalize Dillon for right hooking Denny Hamlin, we’ll see him in the playoffs here in just a couple of weeks.
