Richard Childress stood by his grandson Austin Dillon after Dillon wrecked both Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin to win Sunday night’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond.
Dillon was running second to Logano on the final lap and spun him entering the final two corners. As Logano went spinning and Dillon slowed, Hamlin moved to the inside to pass Dillon. Dillon then turned left to hook Hamlin into the wall and get to the finish line first.
After the race, Dillon said that he was willing to do anything to win because he hadn’t won in two years. And Childress, Dillon’s car owner, said that he’d told his grandson to do whatever it takes to win.
“They would have done it to him, you know?” Childress said. It’s one of those deals that when it comes down to winning a race and you’re in that position, you’re hungry, you do what it takes. That’s what I told him all his life.”
Dillon said in his post-race news conference that he fully intended to crash Logano but that his move to dump Hamlin was a “reaction” in the moment.
“[Logano] was trying to get him lose but [Hamlin] was more of just a reaction,” Dillon said. “I wasn’t lifting that that point because I was more looking at where [Logano] was. When [Hamlin] came across, it was just reaction.”
Dillon’s actions didn’t immediately draw a penalty from NASCAR officials. While NASCAR left open the possibility for a penalty on Sunday night, any discipline wouldn’t come until Tuesday. And if NASCAR decides to punish Dillon for what he did, it’d be highly surprising and nearly unprecedented if it took his win away.
Dillon did what had to do because he knew NASCAR likely wasn’t going to do anything. The sanctioning body has shown that it’s willing to tolerate absurd levels of rough driving in recent years, especially at the Cup Series level. He entered the race 32nd in the points standings and needed a win over one of the final four races of the regular season to make the playoffs.
“I don’t know man, it’s just the rules of the sport, right?” Dillon said when asked if it was good for NASCAR when a driver crashes another for a win. “It is what it is. Wins get you into the next round. I did what I had to do to cross the start/finish line first.”
“As far as good for the sport, I heard we were trending No. 1 on Twitter right now. People must be viewing it right now, so that’s good.”
We believe the last part of Dillon’s comments succinctly sum up why NASCAR has been willing to tolerate so much intentional wrecking. As NASCAR’s relevance in the sporting landscape slowly erodes, the series has embraced viral highlights whenever possible. What Dillon did Sunday night was certainly worthy of a viral highlight.
But we don’t need to explain to you how every viral highlight is “good” for reputations. How is what Dillon did going to lure in the casual fans that have stopped watching races? If anything, fans will see that highlight and think that NASCAR has become a clown show.
“Well, it’s obviously foul,” Hamlin said after the race. “It’s fair in NASCAR. We’re just a different league, right? There is no penalties for rough driving or anything like that. 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.”
“I don’t know. I mean, the record book won’t care, right, about what happened. He’s going to be credited with the win.”
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