Excitement and controversy ended in the NASCAR Cook Out 400 held at Richmond Raceway, with Austin Dillon and Joey Logano in a dramatic crash that could lead to penalties. Dillon, who was just a few laps away from a clean sweep, had his run marred by a late-race caution that ultimately led to an aggressive maneuver in which he collided with Logano and Denny Hamlin in the closing moments. .
With only two laps to go and Dillon comfortably waiting, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Ryan Preece collided, leading to a caution and an extra restart. It was during this reboot that the controversial action took place. Dillon’s inability to keep his head saw Logano come through, but he was eliminated after a dangerous maneuver by Dillon.
The incident not only caused drama, but also sparked discussions about possible penalties against Dillon, whose team was allegedly ordered to destroy competitors, and Logano, who aggressively did donuts in the pit lane . NASCAR, known for making penalty announcements on Tuesday or Wednesday, is expected to make a statement soon, according to The Athletic’s Jeff Gluck. Dillon, who appeared on the “Dale Jr. Download” podcast, didn’t hesitate to acknowledge the impending penalties. He commented, as quoted by On3.com:
Yeah, you know, I mean I would definitely expect something. As for my spotter, I spoke to him and I really think that for all of us the emotions were very high in our situation for car 3. We bumped, bumped for a while and with two laps to go, we he had a three-second lead on Richmond and a caution that probably should never have happened. But that’s how it happened.
“And now here we talk about the things that took us the car that we really had and the opportunity that we took.”
Speaking to the media immediately after the race, Logano lost his temper, as reported by Autosport:
“When you’re that far, you’ve got three to four car lengths ahead going into Turn 3 – I even backed up on the way. I said, ‘I’m just going to pack the bottom here.’ I’m good.” , and he goes really hard.
“Obviously he didn’t make the turn because he hit me and [Hamlin] was going to win the race, so he wasn’t going to race. I hit him right and square on the restart and he just made a sissy gesture.
“He’s a piece of shit. He’s desperate. He’s been a piece of shit his whole career and now he’s going to be in the playoffs. Good for him, I think. “Apparently he’s good. What do you mean? Apparently he can come back from five car lengths and completely destroy someone, then destroy someone else down the line and we’ll call it a race.”
