Austin Dillon scores controversial victory at Richmond

The grandson of Richard Childress, 32nd in the championship standings upon arriving in Virginia, leaves as one of the drivers qualified for the end-of-season play-offs... if indeed he manages to get back into the top 30 in points in the next races! Second at the dawn of the last lap, Dillon did not hesitate to deliberately hit Joey Logano (Ford), leading the race, to take the lead. However, the driver of the No. 3 entered the last corner faster, in order to hit Logano, which sent him to the outside line. Denny Hamlin (Toyota), the regional of the stage, therefore took the opportunity to interfere on the inside and seemed set to win... until Dillon hit him at the rear right, also sending him into the wall, and Austin Dillon on Victory Lane.

After the finish, the American driver, who is no stranger to controversy, having notably won the 500 Daytona 2018 by crashing into Aric Almirola's Ford on the final lap, seemed to hate what he had to do, without However, I believe that it was not necessary: “I don’t know, it’s been two years and this is the first car I have a chance of winning with. I felt like with two laps to go we were the fastest car. I took out the other guy. I hate doing this, but sometimes you have to do it. I have to thank the good Lord. It's been tough the last two years. I care about RCR, about these fans, about my wife. This is my first [victory] for my daughter. It means a lot. I hate it, but I had to do it. »

Another look at the contact coming to the finish line. pic.twitter.com/qG276PviFz

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 12, 2024

NASCAR could penalize Dillon

Elton Sawyer, NASCAR vice president of competition, did not rule out the fact that Dillon could be penalized this week for these actions. However, American tradition dictates that the winner of a race generally remains the same, even in the event of proven cheating. It was only a few years ago that NASCAR implemented a rule allowing a driver to be disqualified if they fail to pass post-race inspection. It is therefore highly likely that the driver of the No. 3 will escape with a fine and fewer points in the championship, but still with his victory.

“Our sport has long been a contact sport. We always hear, “Where’s the line?” and “Has anyone crossed the line?” ". I would say on the last lap it was awfully close to the line. We will look at all the resources available, from audio to video, we will listen to the spotters, crew chiefs and drivers, and if anything rises to a level where we feel we need to penalize, we will do it on Tuesday. »

For the first time in an official NASCAR race, two tire compounds were available, hard and soft. The latter, two trains in number available, allowed Daniel Suarez (Chevrolet) to move up the peloton at the start of the event, but they did not have an impact at the end of the race, which was ultimately NASCAR as we love him… or not? See you next Sunday on a completely different circuit, since we go from the 600 meters of Richmond to the 3,2 kilometers of the Michigan International Speedway!

Richmond – Standings

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