Austin Dillon responds to outcry that his Cook Out 400 win should be taken away

Austin Dillon won in controversial fashion at Richmond Raceway on Sunday evening, spinning Joey Logano and hooking Denny Hamlin coming to the start-finish-line.

With NASCAR’s win and you’re in playoff system, coupled with Dillon being back in the doldrums in the point standings, a win was the only way the No. 3 was going to the playoffs, and the Richard Childress Racing wheelman knew that. He decided to strike when he had the opportunity.

That doesn’t mean everyone is happy about it. Logano and Hamlin, along with some other fans and drivers, have been calling for Dillon to be penalized, and there’s been some talk of taking away his win in Richmond. Dillon made his thoughts known regarding that topic during his post-race media session.

“I’ve seen Denny and Joey make moves that have been you know, running people up the track to win,” Dillon said, calling out what he seemingly believes to be a double standard, via Matt Weaver of Sportsnaut. “This was the first opportunity in two years for me to be able to get a win, I drove in there and kept all four tires turning across the start-finish-line.

“To me, I’ve seen a lot of stuff over the years in NASCAR, where people move people, and it’s just part of our sport, you know what I mean? Remember when, you know, Joey said, short track racing, he knows what it was. In your shoes, what would you do?”

In the past, NASCAR has celebrated moments like Dillon’s victory, and it’s ironic considering he drives the No. 3, as Dale Earnhardt Sr. is perhaps the most famous for wrecking drivers coming to the line. Regardless, it’s put NASCAR executive Elton Sawyer in a tough position.

“Our sport has been a contact sport for a long time. You always hear, ‘Where’s the line, did someone cross the line?’ I would say the last lap was awful close to the line, we’ll take a look at all of the available resources from audio to video, listen to spotters, we’ll listen to crew chiefs and drivers and if anything rises to a level that we feel like we need to penalize then we’ll do that on Tuesday,” Sawyer said, via Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports, regarding potential penalties.

“We’ll look at all of the available resources, look at audio, look at video, look at SMT Data as we normally do in a situation like this and make a determination on Tuesday.”

Still, anyone thinking Dillon’s victory will be taken away may be disappointed: “Historically that hasn’t been our DNA to take races away but that’s not to say that going forward this wouldn’t start to set a precedent, we’d have to look at it,” Sawyer added.

Alas, Austin Dillon may not have won Richmond in a clean fashion, but he still was the first car to take the checkered flag. There’s some dirt on his hands, but taking away his win may be a line too far, and it’d be shocking to see NASCAR cross it.