Gotta think Denny’s smiling pretty big today.
NASCAR brought the hammer down on Austin Dillon after the driver of the #3 car for Richard Childress Racing intentionally wrecked two of his competitors to win at Richmond Raceway last weekend.
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 – until Ryan Preece and Ricky Stenhouse brought out the yellow flag 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 interviews, the driver of the #22 Team Penske car had some harsh words for Dillon:
“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
But it wasn’t just the drivers involved in the wild finish who were disgusted by how it all went down. Drivers like Bubba Wallace, Ross Chastain and Tyler Reddick all expressed their displeasure with Dillon’s move and what it means for the sport going forward.
Obviously drivers feel that it sets a bad precedent if NASCAR allows drivers to just right rear somebody into the wall for a win – not to mention the safety concerns if that happens at a bigger track.
With the exception of Richard Childress and his RCR employees, as well as the few Austin Dillon fans out there, everybody seemed to be in agreement that Dillon went too far, and expected NASCAR to issue some sort of penalty for his actions.
And they came down HARD.
NASCAR announced yesterday that they have revoked the automatic playoff berth that Dillon would have earned from the win, meaning that his win at Richmond will not count towards eligibility for the playoffs. (Generally, a driver who wins a race is automatically in the playoffs).
The powers that be found that Dillon “violated its playoff eligibility rule” and therefore the win won’t count – though if he manages to win another race, he could still get in.
In addition, Dillon was docked 25 points, and his spotter Brandon Benesch has been suspended for 3 races after audio emerged of the spotter screaming for Dillon to “wreck him” as he approached Hamlin.
I guess the precedent has been set that intentionally wrecking multiple drivers, including the forbidden right hook while your spotter yells “WRECK HIM” is now legal pic.twitter.com/fibMSAy2Rs
— Ryan Pistana (@ryanpistana) August 12, 2024
The timing of the penalty also wasn’t great for RCR, because about an hour before it was announced they posted a video on social media claiming that they were “not done yet,” which earned them quite a bit of mocking.
We’re not done yet. @BassProShops | @austindillon3 pic.twitter.com/KoBU95dtii
— RCR (@RCRracing) August 14, 2024
But it wasn’t just fans who were trolling the team.
Shortly after the penalties were handed down, RCR released a statement expressing their disappointment with NASCAR’s decision and announcing that they planned to appeal the penalties:
Richard Childress Racing is very disappointed in NASCAR’s penalty against the No. 3 team. We do not agree with the decision that was made and plan to appeal.
— RCR (@RCRracing) August 14, 2024
And Hamlin (who was no doubt still pissed about Dillon’s actions during the race) decided to jump in and do a little trolling of his own:
Not as disappointed as I was off turn 4. https://t.co/0srS4wrlob
— Denny Hamlin (@dennyhamlin) August 14, 2024
Love him or hate him, you’ve got to respect Denny for always speaking his mind.
Dillon’s appeal is expected to be heard within the next couple of weeks, and before the playoffs start, so I guess we’ll find out soon whether or not he’ll get his playoff spot back – because with the way they’ve been running this year, it’s hard to see them winning again in the next three races to earn their way back in.
