Austin Dillon's audacious Richmond wrecking ball: One year later, what's the legacy?

New York Times

a day ago

One year ago, Austin Dillon pulled one of the most jaw-dropping, did-that-just-happen moves NASCAR has ever seen.
As he raced toward the finish line at Richmond Raceway, Dillon — in need of a victory in one of the season's final two races to make the Cup Series playoffs — crashed Joey Logano, pushing for the win. Then, as Denny Hamlin appeared poised to win the race instead, Dillon came down the track and wrecked Hamlin as well.
AUSTIN DILLON TURNS JOEY LOGANO TO WIN AT RICHMOND! 👀 pic.twitter.com/R8FXVNrzAK
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) August 12, 2024
The double-takeout move was allowed to stand in terms of the victory itself — Dillon is listed as the Richmond winner and got to keep the trophy — but several days later, he was stripped of the playoff benefits the win would have provided.
One year later, as the Cup Series returns to Richmond for a Saturday night race, The Athletic's Jordan Bianchi and Jeff Gluck take a look at the legacy of that night, where things stand now, and what it all could mean going forward.
What's your big takeaway from that night with a year of hindsight?
Bianchi: Standing on pit road in the aftermath, the chain of events felt incredibly surreal. Here was Dillon pulling off this out-of-nowhere upset to clinch a playoff spot (or so we thought at the moment), and as he and his team celebrated, there was also the underlying question of whether he crossed a line to get that win and whether NASCAR should respond and, if so, how they would.
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It was fascinating. You had all these varying emotions unfolding at once, from Dillon's elation to Logano's anger over being crashed, which he expressed by doing a burnout near Dillon's pit stall after the race (earning Logano a fine), to team owner Richard Childress' insistence that his driver (and grandson) did nothing wrong, to NASCAR officials recognizing they had a major problem on their hands with no straightforward resolution.
And then hanging over all this was the playoff implications, as Dillon now was playoff-eligible with Richard Childress Racing set to reap millions of dollars in bonus money.
Gluck: To me, it's, 'OK, now we know there's a line.' We might not know exactly where that line is, but at least we know a driver cannot win a race (or at least enjoy its most important benefit) by just bowling through competitors — and believe it or not, that wasn't clear before Richmond last year.
NASCAR had let an awful lot of transgressions slide over the years before this — including Ty Gibbs blatantly taking out his Xfinity Series teammate Brandon Jones for the win at Martinsville in 2022. So while it's a shame for Dillon that the caution came out and forced the race into overtime — he was going to win the race straight up and grab a playoff berth in one of the defining moments of his career — the fact that his desperation led to multiple wrecks in the same sequence finally proved a bridge too far for NASCAR officials.
Did NASCAR get the call correct?
Bianchi: In retrospect, yes. At the moment, though, there was reason to think Dillon hadn't done anything different from what other drivers had done in similar situations. After all, NASCAR touts itself as being about rough-and-tumble racing, especially on a short track, and here was a driver who was exhibiting the exact same behavior that is so often used to promote the sport — and with a playoff berth on the line, thereby further justifying his actions in some eyes.
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Looking back, however, it is easy to see why NASCAR reacted in the manner it did. Still, it would've been better if NASCAR had responded that night and not three days later.
Gluck: My biggest quibble remains with the timing. NASCAR should have been able to identify Dillon crossed the line in the moment — it was incredibly obvious — and penalized him immediately by placing him at the back of the lead lap running order. Instead, officials deliberated until that Wednesday — three days after the race — before deciding Dillon would keep the victory but lose the playoff benefits.
Officials also did not suspend him for a right-rear hook, which arguably should have been in play — that is a safety violation, after all. But NASCAR felt it sent a strong enough message by denying him the playoff benefits, so that's generally a good enough call. I just wish a ruling had happened in the moment.
Given NASCAR's rulings from that race and in the year since, what are drivers allowed to do in order to win a race on the last lap?
Bianchi: It's always going to be a moving line, but if there is one tenet to come from this, it's that while NASCAR will tolerate physical racing, especially for a win, there is a limit to just how far. And that limit is seemingly that a driver is allowed one egregious move, like intentionally slamming into a competitor to move them out of the way, but two such incidents are not tolerated.
Had Dillon not crashed into Hamlin in addition to Logano, NASCAR likely would not have reacted as it did and might have allowed Dillon to keep his playoff eligibility. In fact, it's not a stretch to think NASCAR would've celebrated Dillon shoving Logano out of the way as a testament to what the sport is all about — 'good old short-track racing' — with no real fallout other than Logano having hurt feelings.
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Gluck: We really still don't know. NASCAR doesn't want to put itself into a box by spelling out specific standards, and Elton Sawyer explained last year's ruling as being a consequence of the 'totality' of the incident and 'progression all the way through the turns.'
When The Athletic did an anonymous survey of the playoff drivers last year, the competitors were totally split: Five said it was OK to wreck one person for the win but not two; four said no intentional wrecking for the win was allowed; another four said it was all circumstantial/judgment calls; three said it was OK to wreck a driver for the win as long as it wasn't a right-rear hook.
This hasn't really been tested since, at least when it comes to going for a win, so we don't really know. My best guess is the answer that got the most votes in our poll — you can wreck one driver for the win, but not two — is correct.
What is good and what is bad about NASCAR's current driving standards?
Bianchi: The thing that separates NASCAR from other high-level racing series is contact is not only allowed but encouraged. This cannot go away, but there does need to be some limit on what is permissible before officials have to step in. Richmond was one such instance.
Ultimately, NASCAR made the correct decision. And despite concerns then that the fabric of the sport could be changed by penalizing Dillon, this hasn't been the case. Contact is allowed, but not in a reckless manner.
Gluck: NASCAR has improved at officiating these incidents in recent years. We now pretty much all know a right-rear intentional hook is going to result in a suspension (except at a road course). We have seen rough driving penalties issued mid-race. So those are positives, along with the fact NASCAR isn't going to suddenly be too hands-on with 'avoidable contact' type penalties from open-wheel racing.
The negatives remain some of the inconsistency (why wasn't Austin Cindric suspended for a right-rear hook at Circuit of the Americas earlier this year?) and the timing (NASCAR should be able to immediately diagnose and penalize more of these incidents, like it did with Austin Hill at Indianapolis last month).
That was Richard Childress Racing's most recent Cup victory and the only one in the last two seasons. When will RCR return to victory lane?
Bianchi: It could happen Saturday night. Nothing that transpired a year ago changes anything regarding RCR's future prospects.
Gluck: It would be a mistake to think RCR can't win any week — specifically with Kyle Busch, who is one of the best drivers ever at Richmond. Busch is tied with Bobby Allison for the best average finish ever at the track (for drivers with a minimum of 14 starts) and is tied for third on the all-time Richmond wins list (six). He leads all active drivers in top-10 finishes there (28).
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So if RCR has that Dillon magic from last year, why can't Busch get it done on Saturday night? Even if not, he's also been great at superspeedways lately — so he could win Daytona, too. They'll win again at some point soon, you would have to think.
(Top photo of Austin Dillon winning last year's Richmond race, with Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano's wrecks in the background: Logan Whitton / Getty Images)
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