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Austin Dillon’s last-lap bulldoze of Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin sent the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing driver into the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs with a Richmond victory, with those he wrecked left furious after the calamity coming to the checkered flag.
“It was chicken-(expletive),” a seething Logano said on USA Network after being turned from the lead in the final corner.
“It’s obviously foul,” Hamlin said minutes later.
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In the end, Dillon’s name will be etched as the winner at Richmond Raceway as he claimed an improbable spot in the 2024 postseason field. But he certainly won’t have an easy path the rest of the season, especially with Logano and Hamlin all but vowing retribution.
Here’s what happened: A caution on Lap 399 of 400 set up a green-white-checkered finish Sunday night, a restart in which Team Penske’s Logano soared to the lead from the top lane. Logano held the lead entering Turn 3 on the final lap and was turned up the track by Dillon. The RCR driver then went down the track and hit Hamlin in the right rear of his No. 11 car, enabling Dillon to take the lead out of Turn 4 for his first win in two years.
“He was four car-lengths back, it wasn’t even close,” Logano said. “It’s a bunch of BS. Not even freaking close. Bump-and-run, I get it, but he got in there and just drove through me. It’s ridiculous.”
” … I was 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. Obviously he didn’t make the turn. He hit me, and then the 11 (of Hamlin) was going to win the race, so he had no intentions to race. I beat him fair and square on the restart, and he just pulls a chicken— move.”
While Hamlin wasn’t as outwardly enraged as Logano was on the TV broadcast, the 54-time Cup Series winner — who finished runner-up and was at times dominant on his hometown short track — took issue with being hooked in the right rear, a no-no among racers.
“The problem I had is I get hooked in the right rear again,” Hamlin said after exiting his No. 11 Toyota on pit road. “Obviously, he‘s just not going to go far (in the postseason). You have to pay your dues back on stuff like that. … Who am I to throw stones in a glass house, but I’ve never won one that way.
” … If I had to do that to Joey, it’s like, ‘Ah, well, I’m going to have to race him in the playoffs. That’s a championship contender. I’m a contender.’ It’s probably not worth it. But for someone 30th in points, it’s worth it because even if he gets every race from here to the end of season, he gained 20 spots in points for doing that.”
Dillon refuted Hamlin’s comment of saying he’d never done anything like that to win a race before, saying he’s seen both Logano and Hamlin win in similar ways.
And in the immediate aftermath after climbing from his car, Dillon greeted his family, held his baby and offered his perspective of the long road he’s been on the past two years, and how all of that culminated in a five-second barrage that left his competitors — along with their cars — spinning.
“It’s been two years,” Dillon said. “This is the first car I’ve had with a shot to win. I felt like with two to go, we were the fastest car. Obviously had to have a straightaway. Wrecked the guy. I hate to do that, but sometimes you just got to have it.
” … It’s been tough for the last two years, man. I care about RCR, these fans, my wife. This is my first for my baby girl. It means a lot. I hate it, but I had to do it.”
NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition Elton Sawyer said the sanctioning body would review the final laps, and if necessary, issue penalties.
“You talk about crossing the line, and I would say looking at that, we were right up against the line,” Sawyer told NASCAR.com’s Alex Weaver. “We’re going to go back and look at all the video, listen to audio, gather all the information and we’re gonna make the right decision.
“Obviously it’s the last lap. Our DNA has been for years to be aggressive, we just have to make sure we’re doing that in the right way. We’ll download on this, we’ll look at it and make sure going forward everybody has an understanding of how we’ll race. If we see something that rises to a certain level, we’ll for sure penalize them.”
On-track penalties of the unofficial variety may await Dillon, too. He hinted that he does expect payback at some point.
His newfound rivals appear to be all-too-ready to return the favor.
“I just got out of the car,” Logano said. “I don’t know what I’m going to do yet, but I know it’s ridiculous and you can’t stand for it. I can tell you that much. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do next. Obviously, I’ll think about it, but you can’t let (expletive) like that happen.”
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