By Luis Torres, Staff Writer
Congratulations, nobody won Sunday’s Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway.
Austin Dillon might be declared the official race winner, but when the dust settles, it’ll go down as one of the more hollow and crass finishes of all-time.
Worsened by the fact there’s evidence that dire ordeals like the need to wreck a driver are essential to saving an otherwise miserable season. Worsened by the fact that lives were endangered once again this season when you mix a damaged car and a defeated man seeking for vengeance.
Once the penalty reports come out, there’s not going to be a happy medium. The damage is done, everyone loses.
The integrity of NASCAR is at an all-time vulnerability following Dillon’s by any means necessary tactic to ram Joey Logano out of the win and hook Denny Hamlin to secure the victory in overtime.
Dillon moved up from 32nd in the regular season standings to punch his ticket into the Cup Series playoffs for the sixth time of his career.
The sad reality is that it was inevitable that last night’s events would lead up to this because of who was involved in the overtime finish. Magnified to a thousand when you have desperate and ego-centric racers.
When it comes down to it, that’s what you get when it’s a byproduct of overtime and Playoff scenarios, especially when the top three involves the sport’s most polarizing drivers in Dillon, Joey Logano, and Denny Hamlin.
Dillon is no stranger to using his car to move out of the way to win. In fact, this is his third notable episode and the first outside of Daytona International Speedway.
Ask Aric Almirola and Austin Cindric, who were victims of losing out of a win by the man piloting the No. 3 Chevrolet. Almirola was crashed out by Dillon in the 2018 Daytona 500 while Cindric was shoved out of the lead in the regular season finale in 2022.
Not the most moral way to win, and Sunday’s outcome was another case of being desperate to win. No different from Dale Earnhardt rattling Terry Labonte’s cage at Bristol 25 years ago later this month.
My biggest gripe was the typical nature of Dillon dumping Logano, another known bump and run man that affected Mark Martin (Pocono I 2012), Matt Kenseth (Kansas II 2015), and Martin Truex, Jr. (Martinsville II 2018) chances of winning over the years, went a bit too far.
Karma be damned, justified by the fans who booed Logano calling Dillon’s move as “chicken s***,” what Dillon did not long after made this callous move even worse.
In a move that Dillon unsuccessfully demanded Cindric to be suspended for at Gateway a year ago and led to suspensions for both Bubba Wallace (Las Vegas II 2022) and Chase Elliott (2023 Coca-Cola 600), he right-hooked Hamlin, who careened into the wall very hard that cost collateral damage to the right side of his No. 11 Toyota.
Not only did Dillon send Logano into a spin, but he also hooked Hamlin with the latter saying he had a nagging right shoulder. All incidents should warrant a lengthy talk by NASCAR because you’ve now possibly hurt a driver considering how unforgiving the current car has been to several drivers since its inception.
It’s a good example of driver etiquette declining because society’s regards to other drivers’ safety is becoming a lost characteristic. If something isn’t done to frown upon this form of entertainment, it’ll be too late when someone is carried out on a backboard or worse.
This is where I see Dillon being fined, penalized points and if NASCAR wants to stay consistent, sit him out for Michigan. It’s the only solution in what’s been a polarizing season for determining consequences.
If NASCAR doesn’t suspend him, it’s only going to send the message that what Dillon did was okay and then we’ll see others follow suit where it can lead to harmed feelings and bloody faces.
Brandon Benesch, Dillon’s spotter, should be suspended as well after video and audio have surfaced that he told Dillon to do whatever it takes to win after having a poor restart. Specifically, taking out a driver which left a mystery as to who he was referring – Logano, Hamlin or both drivers?
Car owner and Dillon’s grandfather Richard Childress disputed until Sportsnaut’s Matt Weaver showed the clip after the press conference which was later uploaded by Fronstretch’s Trey Lyle.
Childress felt the remark was after bumping Logano. Even after Weaver showed Childress the clip, it came across as Childress was proud of the move made by Dillon either way.
Whether it was intended by Dillon or Benesch is up for interpretation. It left a lot more questions than answers which carried onto the following day.
Evidence increased Monday in Actions Detrimental where Hamlin’s spotter Chris Lambert told Hamlin and crew chief Chris Gabehart that Dillon’s spotter Brandon Benesch admitted of saying to hook Hamlin into the wall.
In addition to Benesch’s admittance, Gabehart openly said the SMT Data was enough evidence to back up those claims. Such data was shared by Bozi Tatarevic where he highlights the overtime finish involving the trio.
Again, NASCAR must stay consistent and act on Dillon and the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing squad. For the integrity of the sport because it’s situations that should be frowned upon and downright race manipulation.
Remember Spingate? The sanctioning body has punished crew members for fixing the race before.
Benesch encouraged Dillon, who was visibly distraught in his victory lane interview, to manipulate the race. No way he should be in the spotters stand for a period.
If that wasn’t enough drama, pit road became a cathartic discussion regarding safety and one heated Logano.
Already livid in losing out of scoring his second win of 2024, the 19th place finisher limped his wounded No. 22 Ford to pit road. Once he was close to Dillon’s pit stall, he angrily floored his crabbed machine that could’ve hurt several loved ones and colleagues.
Even worse, infants and toddlers!
A NASCAR official was livid once he saw Logano, who can be heard in an expletive tirade. The official understood Logano’s frustration, but it puts the sport in a vulnerable spot.
When drivers are fined for slamming doors at the race winner or simply showcasing their displeasure, you’re asking for egregious situations like Logano.
Damaged car? Inexcusable defense.
Fragile ego? Irrelevant.
It could’ve been much, much worse that would’ve traumatized folks.
We’ve seen media people get taken down in a brawl at North Wilkesboro that only saw crew and family members punished with suspensions from the drivers.
What happened on pit road Sunday isn’t okay by all accounts, and you can kiss Logano’s 566 consecutive starts goodbye.
Logano should not only be fined close to six figures, but also sit out Michigan for endangering folks on pit road during cool down. More so when you have younger children, which leads me to another concern that must be addressed going forward and perhaps be aggressively stricter.
Part of me holds the people accountable for being on pit road when over the years, you must wait for all cars to stop, and a security official gives the okay to be over the pit wall. It is enforced as a media pundit all the time. Rules are rules with the full intention of keeping people safe.
What Logano did wasn’t safe and arguably speaking, neither were the crew members, spouses, children and so on.
I totally understand family and close friends of the winning team doing this, but they should also be mindful of their surroundings just as much as pundits and other folks who have the privilege of being there.
Could all of this be avoided if television broadcasts stop doing race winner interviews at start/finish and go back to yesteryears? Perhaps.
Is the need to punish folks, no matter who they are to the team, vital? Positively.
Once again, it leaves NASCAR vulnerable where they must find a happy medium which they can achieve and put their foot down by taking justified over the line actions.
They must set a precedent by warning these drivers while controversy creates cash and social media discussions, don’t endanger others for the sake of entertainment or vendetta.
The last thing the sport needs is to dictate what a contact sport should be that could further strain everyone’s perception of the sport that’s slowly growing fans over the past few years.
Sunday at Richmond could’ve been a positively received race where we saw NASCAR try tire compounds and Dillon’s finest race of his career. Instead, we saw angry men, desperate measurements and lives at risk. Such a sad commentary.
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