One year ago, Austin Dillon scored what appeared to be a playoff-clinching win at Richmond Raceway. NASCAR had other ideas, however.
Dillon, who needed nothing less than a victory to secure a Cup Series playoff berth, appeared to do just that when he took the checkered flag running P1 at the Virginia short track.
The only problem? To be leading at the finish, Dillon had to wreck race leader Joey Logano in the final corner. The contact, which caused Dillon to slow, allowed Denny Hamlin to sneak past. But not for long. Dillon promptly turned a hard left into Hamlin as the two headed down the D-shaped front straightaway to the checkered.
The move, which sent Hamlin into the wall, allowed Dillon to come out on top. But his celebration was short-lived.
AUSTIN DILLON SLAMS INTO JOEY LOGANO!
HE WINS AT RICHMOND. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/6fCmEzG6WC
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) August 12, 2024
After taking a few days to review the final-lap fracas, NASCAR ultimately decided to let Dillon’s win stand but declared it “encumbered.” In other words, Dillon could keep the win but not use it to punch an automatic ticket into the playoffs, which he ultimately still missed.
Naturally, Dillon and the entire organization run by his NASCAR Hall of Fame grandfather, Richard Childress, felt the devastation of the ruling. So, needless to say, Dillon and all of Richard Childress Racing (RCR) roll into Richmond this weekend with a little extra motivation.
Elton Sawyer articulates what factored into the decision to encumber Austin Dillon's Richmond win, stripping him of playoff eligibility pic.twitter.com/6braJQZoYS
— Matt Weaver (@MattWeaverRA) August 14, 2024
Can Lightning Strike Twice But Differently For Austin Dillon At Richmond?
Austin Dillon has not been to Victory Lane since his visit there at Richmond a year ago. Given Dillon’s career-long struggle to be a consistent frontrunner, it should come as no surprise, then, that he will arrive at the three-quarter-mile track this weekend in much the same predicament he did in 2024.
That is, it’s likely win or bust where his playoffs hopes are concerned. Dillon is mired so deep in the standings that his only ticket into the playoffs will be to triumph either at Richmond or in the next weekend’s regular season finale at Daytona.
While Dillon is a former Cup Series winner at both tracks, Richmond is likely his best bet. And for a couple of reasons. One is the highly unpredictable nature of Daytona, where having a great car is no guarantee of surviving the one or more multi-car wrecks that are virtually inevitable at the superspeedways. The other reason Richmond probably bodes better for Dillon is, of course, how well he ran there last year. And the fact that he’s recorded two of his four top-10s this year at tracks under one mile.
The most recent of those top-10s took the form of a 10th-place finish two weekends ago at Iowa Speedway.
“Iowa Speedway was a good chance for us to get to run around some of the guys at the front, and make decisions, and have a pit crew making competitive stops around the front,” Dillon said in a prerace news release from Team Chevy PR. “Because when we get to Richmond, I feel like we should be able to compete in the top five and have another shot to win.”
Veteran RCR Driver Looks Back On 2024 Richmond Race With Mixed Emotions
As hard as it was for NASCAR not to let his 2024 Richmond win count for playoff entry, Austin Dillon actually looks back on that weekend with a great deal of fondness.
“It was still a big day,” said Dillon, who led 35 laps in his No. 3 RCR Chevrolet. “I’ll always remember it as one of my favorite wins. We got the trophy, just not the NASCAR playoffs spot. That part was a struggle. And I hate it for RCR. But this year going back I definitely want to go out there and try to win again — but this time lock ourselves into the playoffs.”
As much as Dillon wishes NASCAR had not stripped him of his playoff berth, he also wishes the final laps had played out differently. With better luck, he wouldn’t have needed to be so aggressive in the final half a lap.
“We had a two-second lead with however many laps remaining in the race,” Dillon said. “I drove past Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano, and the car was just really solid. Unfortunately, an untimely caution put us in a difficult position. We worked a little bit this week in the SIM just to see how it correlated. And I thought it correlated very well.
“We will go there and give it our best shot. We feel like it could be a good opportunity to put us into the NASCAR playoffs with just two races remaining until the cutoff.”
