Austin Dillon won his first race for the 2024 NASCAR season after lapping the competition at the Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway. Dillon finished first after a caution on Lap 399 of 400 set up a restart where Joey Logano, representing Team Penske, took the lead from the top lane.
Logano kept the lead into Turn 3 of the final lap, until Dillon turned him out of first position. Afterward, Dillon raced down the track and hit Denny Hamlin in the rear, decking his car onto the wall upon their final approach to the checkered flag.
The RCR driver might have won Sunday's race and broken his 68-race winless streak, but no one was happy with how he did it. For instance, Logano was visibly upset when the press asked him about the result. “It's chickens**t,” he said. Meanwhile, second-place finisher Denny Hamlin was no less upset when it was his turn to face the reporters. “It's obviously foul,” he answered.
Joey Logano and his team fumes at NASCAR
Despite the violent reactions, NASCAR allowed the result to stand, although vice president of competition Elton Sawyer said the association will review the race for potential penalties on Tuesday. He promised that they will look at all audio and video evidence as well as listen to the drivers, crew chiefs, and spotters to determine any need for penalties. He also agreed that “the last lap was awfully close to the line.”
Logano also wanted the NASCAR to strip Dillon of his victory, but eventually relented and said that they won't. He didn't mince any words about his competitor, though.
“It's a bunch of BS. Not even freaking close,” he said. “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 chickens**t move.”
Denny Hamlin and Dillon's comments
Asked about the race, Hamlin didn't appreciate being hooked in the right rear, a racing no-no.
“The problem I had is I get hooked in the right rear again,” he said. “Obviously, he's 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.”
Dillon, on the other hand, said he expects the other drivers to pay him back in future races.
“I hate to do that,” he said, “but sometimes you just got to have it.”
Is winning Sunday's Cook Out 400 worth having a target on your back in the race for the NASCAR playoffs? Austin Dillon might find out very soon.
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