Richard Childress Racing driver Austin Dillon picked up his first win of the 2024 NASCAR season in the Cook Out 400 at Richmond, but it was not an ordinary victory at all, as on the last lap, he turned Joey Logano coming out of turn four, and made contact with Denny Hamlin as well.
With the win, Austin Dillon is now in the NASCAR playoffs. Coming into Sunday, Dillon was 32nd in points, way too far back for him to qualify for one of the 16 playoff spots on points, so he needed a win.
It was now or never in this moment. Despite the enemies he just made down the road, Dillon will at the very least be in the round of 16 portion of the playoffs.
Many NASCAR fans have voiced their displeasure for the playoff format that emphasizes wins. One of the reasons was on display at Richmond, as Dillon was in a desperate situation and wrecked others to get the win.
How did Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin react to Austin Dillon's maneuver?
Understandably, Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin were upset by Dillon's tactics. Logano did not hold back at all when speaking to the media after the race.
“Apparently you can come from five car lengths back and completely wreck someone, and then wreck another one to the line and we're gonna call that racing. Cool,” Joey Logano said, via NASCAR on FOX. “Yeah! Yeah, they won't (take the win away). They won't. No (I didn't think that was coming) I mean when you get like that far ahead, that's three-to-four car lengths ahead into three, and even back at the entry I was like ‘I'll just wrap the bottom here, I'm good.' And he just drives in so hard. Obviously didn't make the turn because he hit me and the 11 was gonna win the race. So he had no intentions to race, I beat him fair-and-square on the restart, and then he just pulls a chicken s*** move. He's a piece of crap, the kid, he sucks. He sucked his whole career. And now he's gonna be in the playoffs and he, good for him, I guess.”
Hamlin admitted that the maneuver was worth it from Dillon's perspective, because he knows he will not get the win taken away.
“Where's the line, Bob? I mean that's the thing is we have rules to prevent ridiculous acts but you know it's been a long time since those rules really have been enforced,” Denny Hamlin said, via Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports. “I mean, didn't Lane Riggs spin someone out and get a two-lap penalty or some bulls***? It's tough because this is what the young shorttrack racers see and they think that this is okay because they watched professionals on Sunday that are supposed to act like adults just do dumb s***, and it's just amazing that it's allowed. I don't fault him because he's completely desperate, right? He's 30th in points. He jumps 20 spots in points or whatever the hell it is. His season's saved. Now he'll have to pay repercussions down the line for this, but it's so worth it from his standpoint because there's no guardrails or rules that say ‘don't do that' and there's no one in the tower that has any problem with it. We'll never get taken seriously as a sport, because we have no real officiating.”
It will be interesting to see if there is any retaliation from Logano and Hamlin in the future.
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