Austin Dillon loves Richmond Raceway. He grew up there, along with places like Charlotte Motor Speedway and Bowman Gray Stadium, all where his grandfather, Richard Childress, ruled as either a driver or NASCAR team owner.
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Dillon still considers his win in the 2018 Daytona 500 as his greatest accomplishment as a Cup driver. But last year’s summer race at Richmond likely is a close second in his personal record book.
Dillon earned the win, his fifth in the Cup Series, but was then called a “chicken s**t” driver by Joey Logano. Dillon, his crew chief, and Logano were all penalized various amounts of money or competition points. Worst of all, while Dillon kept the win, NASCAR ruled it wouldn’t count toward his playoff eligibility.
Even with the penalties that were assessed, Dillon still recalls last year’s win at Richmond with fondness. “It was still a big day and I’ll always remember it as one of my favorite wins,” Dillon told Speedway Media. “We got the trophy, just not the NASCAR Playoffs spot. That part was a struggle, and I hate it for RCR.”
Sadly, Dillon ended the 2024 season 32nd in the point standings, the lowest he’s ever finished in his Cup career. This year hasn’t been much better either.
Dillon comes into Saturday night’s race at Richmond a dismal 28th in the standings. He has zero wins, zero top-fives and only four top-10 finishes in the first 24 races, meaning he only has an outside chance of making the playoffs if he wins again at Richmond or in next week’s regular season finale at Daytona.
Dillon has high hopes for a repeat win at Richmond
But hope springs eternal in Dillon’s mind that he can repeat last year’s win this weekend and secure his sixth career playoff berth and first since 2022.
“This year going back I definitely want to go out there and try to win again, but this time lock ourselves into the Playoffs,” Dillon said. “We had a dominant car last year and really came on strong at the end. We had a multiple-second lead and passed two of the best (runner-up Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano) to do it, so that’s pretty cool.”
But Logano was significantly upset because the win should have been his, in his mind. He was leading and the cars were coming into Turn 3 on the final lap when Dillon punted Logano into the wall.
Dillon claimed it was an accident, but Logano gave him that unwanted moniker and then confronted Dillon and his family and team on pit road, which ultimately led to NASCAR hammering Logano with a $50,000 penalty.
