Austin Dillon’s race in Las Vegas on Sunday came to an abrupt end in Stage 1 after he crashed his No. 3 Chevrolet Camaro into the wall. No one was quite sure what happened at the time but an angry Dillon was seen pointing at someone on the track. The replay later showed that Daniel Hemric had been pushing him before the incident. Dillon wasn’t happy about it after the race.
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Hemric, however, sounded apologetic when asked about the incident. The Kaulig Racing star said that it was an unfortunate wreck that he did not mean to happen. He also mentioned that he would be speaking to Dillon, whom he considers a friend, as soon as he got to his phone. Both were racing hard for position when the No. 31 driver made the unintended mistake.
He explained, “Just a little bit where I touched him, it looked like it just got him loose. That’s the last thing you want to do… A good friend of mine, so I was happy to hear he was okay. Not at all how that needed to go down or I wanted it to go down. Just very very unfortunate.”
Austin Dillon points at Daniel Hemric after crashing out at Las Vegas.
: NBC pic.twitter.com/5ePrLL4Knt
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) October 20, 2024
Dillon was given a DNF and Hemric finished the race in 19th place. There could be some tension between the two drivers during the next Cup Series race at Homestead. Hemric can hopefully clear things up by then and have a clean race without any controversy.
Dillon expresses frustration after an unfortunate DNF
Hemric is not known to be an aggressive driver. He usually races quite clean and Dillon was just an unfortunate victim of a stray incident on Sunday. However, the Richard Childress Racing star has every right to be upset and he expressed those emotions to the reporters after retiring early from the event.
His displeasure had already been evident to everyone when he pointed at the No. 31 car on track as soon as he got out of his car. He said, “There were about four of us racing right there and he just wrecked me, flat out wrecked me. I don’t know if he just decided to get aggressive in this point in time in his career or what. He just wrecked me. It was a hard hit but I am good.”
The on-car footage was quite scary. The No. 3 Camaro’s bonnet was completely crushed and there was fire underneath the hood. It must have been a terrifying moment for the driver, which could be another reason why he got so upset. Fortunately, he didn’t suffer an injury, which is the most important outcome in these scenarios.
