Controversial finish marred career day for Austin Dillon at Richmond

Austin Dillon made headlines on Sunday night, but for all the wrong reasons.

Dillon entered Sunday's Cook Out 400 at Richmond 32nd in Cup Series points but, after a controversial win, locked himself into the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

After spinning Joey Logano and hooking Denny Hamlin on the race's final lap, Dillon was rightfully criticized for a move that many saw as unprofessional and dangerous.

Logano, who was leading heading into the race's final corner before he was spun by Dillon, took particular offense to Dillon's aggressive move.

"It's chicken----," Logano said when asked what he thought of the move. "...He's four car lengths back, not even close, then he wrecks the 11 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."

Logano finished the race in 19th, while Hamlin's destroyed Toyota Camry was awarded a runner-up finish. The second-place effort was small consolation for Hamlin, however, who drew even with Dillon on the exit of turn four before being crashed.

"We have rules to prevent ridiculous acts, but it's been a long time since those rules really have been enforced," Hamlin said. "...This is what the young short track racers see, and they think this is okay because they watch the professionals on Sunday."

Dillon's victory at Richmond will forever come with warranted criticism, but without the final overtime restart, it would've been the quietest win of Dillon's career, even if it was a monumental upset.

Dillon's previous four wins had all come with some sort of dramatics: his first career win in the 2017 Coke 600 came via fuel mileage, his 2018 Daytona 500 victory came after he wrecked Aric Almirola on the final lap, his 2020 win at Texas came via pit strategy in the closing laps and his 2022 victory at Daytona came in the regular-season finale and happened at the expense of Austin Cindric, whom Dillon moved out of the way late in the going.

For the first time all season, the No. 3 team brought a race-winning car to the track for Dillon, and after topping the speed charts in practice and qualifying sixth, there was hope that Dillon could pull off a miraculous win to make the postseason.

Until Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Ryan Preece tangled with two laps to go, it seemed like that win would come fairly easy for Dillon, as his Chevrolet Camaro appeared the be the fastest car on track for the majority of Stage Three. After passing Hamlin for the lead with 29 laps to go, Dillon drove away, stretching his lead to nearly three seconds before the final caution.

It was said caution that led to the wild chain of events that decided Sunday's race, and unfortunately for Dillon, it means a genuinely impressive performance by himself and his team will forever be forgotten due to a move that was anything but impressive.

There's certainly a lot for Dillon and the No. 3 team to build on from a performance perspective after their Richmond victory, but Dillon may have done himself more harm than good. With the playoffs quickly approaching, he can't — and shouldn't — expect any driver in the field to give him a break or lend him a hand.

In modern-day NASCAR, you're sometimes forced to make the choice between what is right and what is easy. Dillon chose the easy choice, and in his words, he had to do it.