What Denny Hamlin said about Austin Dillon, NASCAR after wreck-filled Richmond finish

Austin Dillon wiped out two of NASCAR’s best drivers to win Sunday’s Cup Series race at Richmond, and both were not happy about it.

Dillon initially drove through the final corner on the final lap to wreck Joey Logano, who had taken the lead on the restart a lap and a half beforehand. The driver of the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet then came down, turning left into the passing Denny Hamlin, turning the No. 11 Toyota sharply right and into the wall.

With no one left around him to throw a bumper to, Dillon sped to the start-finish line to win the race and lock himself into the playoffs despite entering the Richmond race during a dreadful 2024 season at 32nd in points.

Logano displayed more raw emotion than Hamlin initially, spinning his tires in front of the No. 3 team on pit road postrace, then calling Dillon’s actions a “chicken (expletive)” move during an interview with USA Network.

Hamlin was thinking of the larger picture postrace, understanding that the Wild Wild West-like nature of battles for the lead on the last lap are now more commonplace in the Cup Series.

“We have rules to prevent ridiculous acts, but, you know, it’s been a long time since the rules have been enforced,” Hamlin said postrace, per Sportsnaut’s Matt Weaver.

Hamlin noted that in the Truck Series in June at Nashville, Layne Riggs was given a two-lap penalty for reckless driving after contact with Stefan Parsons. But it is a very rare penalty.

Denny Hamlin: NASCAR loses legitimacy as a sport with Richmond crash-fest finish

In the last 30 years or so, NASCAR has historically not penalized drivers for contact late in races while racing for the win. Fans of the sport can recall many Cup races (Dale Earnhardt vs. Terry Labonte in 1999 at Bristol comes to mind among others) where contact has played a role in deciding winners and losers.

But the intent of that kind of racing has started to shift over the last decade, first in the lower national series. For example, Ty Gibbs drove through teammate Brandon Jones at Martinsville to take the lead on the final lap and win the race to make the 2022 Championship 4 in the Xfinity Series. The move occurred without penalty.

Now that kind of racing is front and center in the Cup Series, as evidenced by Dillon’s moves on Sunday. Racing for the win has turned into wrecking for the win.

Hamlin admitted that the payoff (a win to make the Cup playoffs) for Dillon was worth the payback (the way Logano and Hamlin might race Dillon in the future) in the short and long term. Hamlin has a point, too; the playoffs have increasingly encouraged drivers and teams to be in win-at-all-costs mode.

As Dillon made the move to spin out Logano and Hamlin surged below him, Dillon’s spotter yelled out, “Wreck him!” as the driver complied to turn Hamlin into the wall.

Hamlin was very critical of NASCAR and the way the sanctioning body has ruled on similar situations in the past. Hamlin and crew chief Chris Gabehart visited the NASCAR hauler after speaking with the media.

“There are no guardrails or rules that say, ‘Don’t do that.'” Hamlin said. “There’s no one in the tower that has any problem with it.”

“We’re never, ever going to get taken seriously as a sport because we have no real officiating.”

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: What Denny Hamlin said about Austin Dillon, NASCAR after wild Richmond finish