Joey Logano was shaking with anger after jumping out of his car at the end of the Cup Series race at Richmond. RCR driver Austin Dillon had just pulled a highly controversial move on him in the final lap of the race, costing him a certain victory. Logano crashed into the wall and with no more running time to retaliate, he burned his tires in Dillon’s pit lane much to the dismay of officials.
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He was fully critical of the 34-year-old grandson of Richard Childress and held no bars on his words. “He’s a piece of crap,” he said. “He sucks. He’s sucked his whole career and now he’s going to be in the playoffs. Good for him, I guess.” The incident that led to this harsh showcase stemmed in Turn 3 on the final lap. Logano had beat Dillon on the overtime restart and was cruising toward the finish line.
“I beat him fair and square on the restart and he just pulls a chickenshit move. He sucks, he’s sucked his whole career and now he’s gonna be in the playoffs, and good for him”@joeylogano irate after getting taken out by Austin Dillon at Richmond.
: @m_massie22 pic.twitter.com/BDW0bcvSLv
— Frontstretch (@Frontstretch) August 12, 2024
From behind four-car lengths, Dillon overdrove into the turn and bumped into Logano’s Ford Mustang. He then cut into Denny Hamlin’s rear as well and sent him to the wall as well. Logano continued, “Obviously, he didn’t make the turn because he hit me and (Hamlin) was going to win the race, so he had no intention to race. I beat him fair and square on the restart and he just pulls a chicken shit move.”
Does this mean Logano will try to exact revenge when the field races at Michigan next weekend? The driver doesn’t know. “You can’t stand for it,” he added. “I can tell you that much. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do next.” Hamlin, who was the other victim, has already issued Dillon a warning of what is to come.
Denny Hamlin will make things fair once again on the track soon
Talking to the press, Hamlin noted how NASCAR was vague on what kind of aggressiveness it is willing to tolerate. He touched upon the fact that Dillon got to do whatever he wanted and that it wasn’t a fair way to do things. “I mean the record book won’t care, right, about what happened,” he lamented. The win, should it stand, will be Dillon’s fifth of his career.
He is 32nd on the points table and finds a seat in the playoffs. However, Hamlin doesn’t expect him to last long in the postseason. He said, “Obviously he’s just not going to go far ’cause you got to pay your dues back on stuff like that.” Nobody can be sure if it will be Hamlin himself or a different driver who will be making Dillon “pay his dues”. But he better watch out.
![The RCR team had a challenging day during the third race of the Cup season. Although Kyle Busch crossed the finish line in 5th place and had been a frontrunner, having led for 43 laps, the disappointing 35th-place finish of Austin Dillon only compounded the team's frustrating results. While Busch maintained his composure, Dillon was visibly upset with the on-track incident involving Denny Hamlin. During the race at Circuit of the Americas, on lap 78, Austin Dillon and Denny Hamlin were vying for the P20 position when Hamlin, after locking his #11 Toyota's tires, unexpectedly collided with the driver's side of Dillon's #3 car, hurtling it into the gravel and triggering a caution. Television replays captured a trail of dust from the Joe Gibbs Racing car just moments before it seemingly lost braking power and instigated the crash. However, the situation escalated when NASCAR shared the video of the incident with the caption, "The Nos. 3 and 11 make contact and the yellow flag flies." Unable to contain his frustration, Dillon responded sharply, "Correction. The No. 11 made contact with the No. 3." The sentiment among fans largely favored Dillon's perspective. One spectator commented, "And then his teammate wins. They knew what they were doing!" while another lamented, "Sadly if this didn't happen there a good chance @KyleBusch could have won today." Yet another chimed in, "Yep! Always cover Gibbs/Toyota/Hamlin. It’s all headline semantics. He drove into your side, video supports no attempt to steer away." Due to the caution, Bell was able to have fresher tires, which helped him pass Busch with five laps remaining. Otherwise, the old tires would have most likely slowed down the #20 car. That's why the fans blamed Hamlin for instigating a deliberate wreck that helped Bell to outpace the #8 RCR driver. However, one fan referenced a past incident to needle Dillon, recalling when he maneuvered the #11 driver into the wall at Richmond last year to secure his playoff position [which ultimately did not pan out due to NASCAR's decision], remarking, "Remember when you right rear hooked the 11 into the wall to win?" Nevertheless, the replay footage seemed to clearly show it was Hamlin who initiated the collision with the #3 driver. Dillon's frustration was quite visible during his post-race interview as well, where he expressed, "Our car handled well, and we were just trying to be patient until the end. With 18 laps to go, we were running inside the top 20, and the #11 locked up his front tires and wiped us out." "My team did a great job trying to make the repairs, but the damage in the rear was too much to fix, and we had to go to the garage." He voiced disappointment on behalf of his RCR team, lamenting that they had a car capable of finishing in the top 15, and it was unfortunate they couldn't demonstrate the same at COTA. Nevertheless, Dillon appeared optimistic about the upcoming race in Phoenix, hinting at a rebound from the setback.](https://cdn-wp.thesportsrush.com/2025/03/d8fc8a02-austin-dillon.png?format=auto&w=384&q=75)
