Austin Dillon wrecked two cars on the final lap in overtime to win Sunday night’s Cup race at Richmond, snapping a 68-race winless streak and earning a playoff spot.
Joey Logano was furious with Dillon’s move, calling it “chickensh*t.”
MORE: Race results & driver points
MORE: What drivers said after the race
Dillon charged from well back to run into the rear of Logano’s car in the middle of Turns 3 and 4 on the final lap. The contact spun Logano and sent him into the wall.
Denny Hamlin passed Dillon in the inside, but as they came to the finish line, Dillon made contact with the right rear of Hamlin’s car. That impact sent Hamlin into wall while Dillon raced by for the win. Hamlin finished second.
“He’s four car lengths back,” Logano told NBC Sports’ Dillon Welch after being credited with a 19th-place finish. “Then he wrecks (Hamlin) to go along with it. He’s going to go up there and thank God and praise everything with his baby. It’s a bunch of B.S. Not even freakin’ close.
“I get it, bump and run. I get it. I didn’t back up the corner at all. He just drove through me. It’s ridiculous that that’s the way we race. Unbelievable.”
Said Hamlin of Dillon to NBC Sports’ Marty Snider: “Obviously foul, but it’s fair in NASCAR. We’re just a different league, right, where there is no penalties for rough driving. It opens up the opportunity for Austin to do whatever he wants.
”... I got hooked in the right rear again. I’m just minding my own business and he turned left and hooked me in the right rear and blew my shoulder out. I don’t know.
“The record book won’t care about what happened. He’s going to be credited with a win, but, obviously, he’s just not going to go far. You got to pay your dues back on stuff like that. But it’s worth it because they jump 20 positions in points. I understand all of that. There’s no ill will there. I get it. I just hate that I was a part of it.”
Dillon, who entered the race 32nd in the points, told Snider: “It’s been two years and this is the first car that I’ve had with a shot to win,. I felt like with two to go (to the scheduled distance) we were the fastest car, obviously, had a half a straightaway (lead).”
Then came a caution for an incident between Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Ryan Preece, setting up the overtime finish.
Logano passed Dillon for the lead on the restart and pulled away before Dillon’s last-gasp move.
“I hate to do that but sometimes you’ve just got to have it. I got to thank the good Lord above. It’s been tough the last two years, man. I care about RCR, these fans, my wife and 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 talked to reporters after the race about the finish.
“Our sport has been a contact sport for a long time,” Sawyer told reporters. “We always hear ‘Where’s the line and did someone cross the line?’
“I would say that the last lap was awful close to the line. We’ll take a look at all the available resources from audio to video. The spotters, we’ll listen to, crew chiefs and drivers and if anything rises to a level that we feel like we need to penalize then we’ll do that on Tuesday.”
The finish overshadowed the first Cup points race to have two different sets of tires for teams to choose. Each team had six prime sets and two option sets. It created a lot of movement with teams using the option tires, which were faster, at different times of the race.
“The option tire worked exactly as it was intended,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing. “They fired off immediately and were more than a half second faster than the prime, which is big on a short track. Also, the options gave up significantly more than the primes over a long run, as intended.
“At about the 25-lap mark, the lap times evened off, so the options proved fast early while the primes were strong on the long run.
“What was really exciting was how different teams used the option tire at different times to accomplish their own goals. For example, Daniel Suarez put them on early in the race and charged from the middle of the pack to take the lead, while Kyle Busch put them on at the end of stage two to try to get a lap back.
“Overall, the primes/options tire set-ups highlighted the risk versus reward we were exactly looking for.”
Stage 1 winner: Christopher Bell
Stage 2 winner: Daniel Suarez
Who had a good race: Austin Dillon scored his first top-five finish of the season with the win. He also led 35 laps, the first laps he’s led all season. ... Denny Hamlin’s runner-up result was only his second top 10 in the last eight races. ... Tyler Reddick’s third-place run gives him a series-best 16 top 10s this year. ... Bubba Wallace’s fourth-place finish was his fourth top 10 in the last five races. Wallace also moved into the final playoff spot with three races left in the regular season.
Who had a bad race: An engine failure led to Martin Truex Jr. finishing last. It is the third consecutive race a JGR car has had an engine issue. ... Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished 36th after an accident in the final laps. It is the third time in the last five races he’s placed 30th or worse.
Notable: Austin Dillon scored his first win since August 2022 at Daytona International Speedway.
Next: The series races Aug. 18 at Michigan International Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET on USA Network)
