Win at all costs was on full display in Sunday night’s Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway. Austin Dillon saved his season, snapping a 68-race winless streak and qualifying for the playoffs.
It didn’t come without making several enemies.
Dillon was in cruise control as the laps clicked off. The No. 3 Chevrolet took the lead from Denny Hamlin with 28 laps remaining and didn’t look back until Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Ryan Preece crashed directly in front of Dillon coming to the white flag. That set up an overtime finish, with the bulk of the field pitting for the Goodyear option tire.
Joey Logano powered by Dillon on the outside lane for the lead on the restart. Needing a miracle on the final lap, the No. 3 car charged into Turn 3 and spun Logano out for the lead. Hamlin got by for the top spot, but Dillon right-hooked the No. 11 Toyota off Turn 4 to score the victory.
Entering the 23rd race of the season having not led a single lap, sitting 32nd in the regular season standings and an average finishing position of 24.5, it was Dillon’s best shot at tasting victory in a significant period of time.
“I don’t know, man,” Dillon said when asked if his move was fair or foul. “It’s been two years. 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.
“I got to thank the good Lord above. 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.”
Don’t count the two Cup veterans of Logano and Hamlin to be fans of Dillon’s antics. Getting turned in the final set of corners cost the No. 22 team its second win in the last five races. Meanwhile, Hamlin was credited with a runner-up finish after leading a race-high 124 laps, but left Richmond with a mangled race car.
“It’s chicken [expletive],” a fired up Logano told NBC Sports. “There’s no doubt about it. He is four car lengths back, not even close. Then he wrecks [Hamlin] to go along with it. 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.
“I get it, bump-n-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.”
Hamlin was more even keel in his remarks, though was frustrated that he lost the race by getting turned into the fence.
“There is no penalties for rough driving or anything like that,” Hamlin stated. “It opens up the opportunity for Austin to be able to just do whatever he wants.
“The problem I had, I got hooked in the right rear again. I’m just minding my business. He turned left and hooked me in the right rear. Blew my damn shoulder out. The record book won’t care about what happened. He’s going to be credited with the win. Obviously, he’s just not going to go far [in the playoffs] because you got to pay your dues back on stuff like that. But it’s worth it because they jump 20 positions in points. So I understand all that. There’s no ill will there.”
Hamlin believes that the proverbial line in racing ethics was crossed. Logano thinks Dillon should be stripped of the victory. Meanwhile, Dillon was born into Richard Childress Racing, a team that’s had its fair share of controversial finishes. He boils it down to hard racing.
“I was just trying to get to [Logano],” Dillon added. “I went into Turn 3 in fifth gear and drove in, tried to get him loose and got him up the track. I got the car downshifted and the car actually turned pretty good when I did that. When I was coming back left, [Hamlin] was coming and that was kind of a reaction. The 22 was trying to get him loose, but the 11 was more of a reaction. I wasn’t lifting at that point because I was more looking at where the 22 was when the 11 came across. It was just a reaction.”
Logano feels the opposite, though he has also used the bumper to win races in the past.
“[Dillon] had no intentions to race,” Logano told a group of reporters after the race. “I beat him fair and square on the restart and he pulls a chicken [expletive] move. He’s a piece of crap. He sucks. He’s sucked his whole career and now he’s going to be in the playoffs. Good for him, I guess.”
After the race, audio circulated of Dillon’s spotter Brandon Benesch yelling over the radio for Dillon to wreck Hamlin after spinning Logano. NASCAR’s Senior VP of Competition Elton Sawyer met with reporters and discussed the final lap.
“Our sport has been a contact sport for a long time,” Sawyer said. “We always hear ‘Where is the line?’ and ‘Did someone cross the line?’ I would say the last lap was awful close to the line. We will take a look at all the available resources from audio to video, we’ll listen to the spotters, crew chiefs and drivers. If anything arises to a level that we feel like we need to penalize, then we will do that on Tuesday.”
With the victory, RCR snaps a 44-race winless drought.