Near the end of the 1998 movie “U.S. Marshals”, Wesley Snipes, having been found innocent of all charges against him, is asked by the media how he feels now that he’s a free man, to which Snipes replies with a one-word answer: “Righteous.” That’s the same way Austin Dillon likely feels after Saturday night’s win at Richmond Raceway, which propelled him into the upcoming NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
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Yes, Dillon feels righteous again, not to mention feeling a sense of redemption after having a playoff berth taken away from him after winning last year’s race at Richmond due to aggressive driving that led to Dillon punting Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin into the wall on the final lap, ending both their chances of winning. Dillon kept the win, but it didn’t matter much once his playoff berth was axed.
Saturday night, Dillon gave practically an instant replay performance of last year’s race, albeit in a much more dominating fashion. He led 107 laps versus just 35 last year, running virtually the same lines, but with one key difference: he stayed out of trouble, particularly on the last lap.
Sure, he could have wrecked runner-up Alex Bowman or hard-charging third-place finisher Ryan Blaney to assure his sixth career Cup win, but Dillon learned his lesson from last year’s race and, really, didn’t need to do anything nefarious to keep his two closest challengers at bay heading to the finish line.
Coming into Richmond, while he gave a lot of thought to how last year’s race played out, Dillon was glad to finally put all that ruckus in his rearview mirror once and for all.
“I’m too tired to be angry,” Dillon said. “Man, some things you don’t understand at the time. Come back around. God has a way of putting that timing together. I feel like I was probably the calmest I’ve ever been tonight in the car winning the race. I didn’t act a certain way. I was just thankful for the opportunity.
“If you would have told me we would come back a year later and be sitting in victory lane after all we went through. Man, I cried in our appeal process because that win meant a lot to me, to be able to race with Denny (Hamlin) and Joey (Logano).”
Of course, it was Logano and Hamlin, in that order, that Dillon punted to win last year’s race. Hamlin has not spoken to Dillon since then, but maybe that self-imposed silence will finally cease in light of Dillon’s clean win on Saturday.
“To come back this year, everyone is telling you, ‘Go get it done. You can get the redemption here. Show them what it means to win,” Dillon said. “Dude, I had a three-second lead last year before the caution came out.
“Tonight it kind of played out the same way it did last year (without the final caution, though). Our car just kept getting better and better.”
Dillon admitted he kept replaying in his mind last year’s final lap while driving Saturday night’s closing laps, mentally telling himself, “No caution. No caution. Don’t blow a tire. I got to a point where with, like, 20 to go, the car was kind of getting squirmy on me, I was losing the rear tires. Gave it a little front brake. It calmed down. I kind of got confident again.”
This is only the third time Dillon has qualified for the playoffs in the last seven seasons. Given that his grandfather’s team, Richard Childress Racing, has not won a Cup championship since 1994 with Dale Earnhardt Sr., hope springs eternal for the Childress and Dillon clan that the organization can build upon Saturday’s win and ride it through all four rounds of the playoffs.
“Yeah, I guess we’re just built that way, you’re never out of the fight kind of deal,” Dillon said of the organization’s optimistic mantra. “My guys really believe me, the pit crew guys I have, they’re dogs. They stuck with me through thick and thin when they probably had the opportunity to go to other teams and be more successful.
“I think we just have a bond that means a lot. A couple dogs out there. I like working with them, for sure. They’re my boys.”
Dillon’s win was historic for RCR
Interestingly, Dillon led 107 laps Saturday, the first time the No. 3 car has led 100-plus laps in a Cup race since the 1998 Daytona 500, when race winner Dale Sr. also led 107 laps in his first and only Daytona 500 win.
After winning last year’s race, and despite having his playoff berth taken away, Dillon said it was still the second-best win of his Cup career after his victory in the 2018 Daytona 500. He can now take last year’s finish and replace it with Saturday’s win as his greatest No. 2 triumph.
“This feels great. This is what I wanted last year,” Dillon said. “It’s not how I wanted to end it last year. Felt like I had to with my back against the wall kind of deal. This year it just played out the way God wanted it to, I guess.”
Yes, Austin Dillon feels righteous again. Now, maybe he’ll be able to go on and do what he would have liked to have done last year had his playoff berth not been taken away.
