Denny Hamlin doesn’t think Austin Dillon’s contact with him at Richmond was a racing incident. After being beaten by Dillon at Richmond, Hamlin was asked if the RCR driver’s on-track action was a matter of chance. However, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver ruled out such a possibility:
“No, because Austin (Dillon) made a left turn. After hitting No. 22 (Joey Logano), he made a left turn to correct his trajectory, corrected his trajectory, then turned left again , so it was two if you can read the graph, there is a big left, a straight line, a left again. [00:57]
When asked his thoughts on what Dillon was trying to do, Denny Hamlin said the No. 3 was trying to make contact. Hamlin revealed he couldn’t see because he had “a big headrest on the right side,” but he could tell Dillon was going down. Pilot #11 said Dillon could still see him thanks to the visibility through his window. “You can tell when a car passes in front of you. More likely when they tell him to get off, he does as he’s told and then when he sees me, maybe he’s just trying to make contact, but at that point I almost passed him, right . It’s just a vulnerable spot and it can put you in a bad position,” added Denny Hamlin. Austin Dillon has no regrets about the Richmond incident with Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano
Speaking Saturday before Michigan, Austin Dillon discussed his incidents with two of the biggest drivers in the garage. According to Autosport, Dillon apologized to Logano for putting him in the situation he caused. The RCR driver said that if it was Logano or anyone else, he wanted to put his team on the road to victory, because he “will do my best” to achieve that goal.
However, Dillon also condemned Logano’s post-race actions in the pit lane as well as in his post-race interview. But for that, Dillon said he forgave Logano for the frustration. Austin Dillon then spoke about the recent incidents of last Sunday’s race that gave him the win. He brought up Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano’s past as racing drivers. “I’ve learned a lot from Denny and Joey over the years. They don’t regret what they do on the track, and neither do I.
“I don’t feel like that. I won’t say I regret anything, because I don’t.” “I fell asleep and felt really good about everything he had to do for me and my team,” Dillon added. Whether Austin Dillon is remorseful or not, NASCAR gave him a penalty for his actions on the track after finding fault for the incident. Dillon held on for the win, but was stripped of his playoff eligibility. Joey Logano was also penalized for his actions in pit lane and fined $50,000.
