Joey Logano blasted Austin Dillon for having “no intention” of racing to the finish Sunday night at Richmond Raceway and instead choosing to make contact for the victory.
The race went to overtime with Dillon as the race leader. But Logano beat Dillon through Turns 1 and 2 on the restart and was leading going into Turn 3 on the final lap. Dillon, looking for his first victory in two years, drove hard into the corner to get to Logano’s bumper and made contact. It sent Logano into a full spin before his car hit the outside wall.
Dillon then made contact with Denny Hamlin off Turn 4 to secure the win. Hamlin had the momentum and moved underneath Dillon when the incident between him and Logano occurred. But Dillon came back down the track and hit Hamlin in the right rear.
Admittedly, Logano was not expecting there to be contact from Dillon.
“When you get that far ahead — that’s three to four car lengths ahead into [Turn] 3,” Logano said. “I didn’t even back up the entry. I was like, ‘I’ll just wrap the bottom here, I’m good,’ and he just drives in so hard. Obviously, he didn’t make the turn because he hit me, and the 11 [Hamlin] was going to win the race.
“So, he had no intentions to race. I beat him fair and square on the restart, and he just pulls a chicken [expletive] move. He’s a piece of crap. The kid, he sucks. He sucked his whole career, and now he’s going to be in the playoffs. Good for him, I guess.”
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Dillon was 32nd in the NASCAR Cup Series point standings entering Richmond. The victory shuffles the playoff grid by putting Dillon into the postseason.
When asked if Dillon should be penalized, Logano initially said, “I don’t know. I don’t know. Apparently, it’s OK. What do you want me to say? Apparently, you can come from five car lengths back and completely wreck someone and then wreck another one to the line, and we’re going to call that racing. Cool.”
Logano was then asked if they should take the win away from Dillon, “Yeah [but] they won’t.”
In the heat of the moment, Logano didn’t know how he would react going forward. As time passed, he was still red-faced, sweating and animated, whether talking to his team or the media about what transpired on the last lap.
“But I know it’s ridiculous, and you can’t stand for it,” the two-time series champion said. “I can tell you that much. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do next. Obviously, I got to think about it, but you can’t let (expletive) like that happen.”