Austin Dillon's Richmond finish 'too excessive,' Cup champion Ryan Blaney says
There are messy finishes, and then there's what Austin Dillon did in last weekend's Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway.
On the final turn of the race, Dillon spun leader Joey Logano out of the way and then made contact with Denny Hamlin, causing him to go into the wall, after passing Logano. As a result of his moves, Dillon got his first win of the year and — initially — a spot in the 16-driver NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
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After the race, Logano and Hamlin among others, voiced their candid displeasure with Dillon for presumably wrecking multiple cars to get into the playoff, as it was his first win of the season. Then NASCAR took action against Dillon on Wednesday, stripping him of the automatic playoff bid and 25 points in the standings. Dillon's spotter, Brandon Benesch, was suspended for three races. Meanwhile, Logano was fined $50,000 for driving past and subsequently smoking his tires near Dillon's pit box after the race.
How do other drivers who weren't involved in the last-lap chaos feel about the matter?
On Thursday's edition of "Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour," 2023 Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney — who finished 11th at Richmond — provided his perspective on Dillon's acts.
"He kind of hooks the [Hamlin]. I feel like that was another step further in the controversy of ‘okay, yeah, you spun the leader out from pretty far back’ and then you kind of double-down and then hook a guy to win. You're in a desperate situation, but, to me, that was kind of overkill," Blaney said about Dillon's moves. "What are we getting to as a sport where that's open. Yeah, we're all for hard racing. It's been a contact sport for a long time, but I feel like that was just kind of a step over. That was just too excessive, too much to really be like psyched-up about. …
"If you run Joey up in [Turn] 1 and 2 on the restart, that's one thing. You kind of bang doors, whatever, go on your way. But I feel like that was just kind of a step further."
In his postrace interview, Dillon said "I did what I had to do to cross the start-finish line first. ... A lot of people lose their jobs because they don't get to the start-finish line first."
Dillon is now 26th in total points (344), with one top-five finish and three top-10 finishes this season. Meanwhile, Blaney — who is locked into the playoffs — is fifth in total points (702), with two wins, seven top-five finishes and 11 top-10 finishes.
Next up on the NASCAR circuit is the Firekeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway. After Michigan, there are just two races remaining before the 16-driver playoffs commence.
Full coverage of Richmond fallout:
- NASCAR revokes Austin Dillon's automatic playoff berth over Richmond finish
- Joey Logano fined $50K by NASCAR for postrace actions at Richmond
- How far is too far to win a Cup race? Decisions loom for NASCAR, drivers
- Austin Dillon on a Joey Logano response to Richmond finish: 'If he retaliates, he retaliates'
- Controversial last-lap moves in NASCAR history: Where does Austin Dillon rank?
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