Denny Hamlin: Austin Dillon celebrating trending on Twitter is 'tone deaf'
Austin Dillon said something after his win at Richmond on Sunday that bothered Denny Hamlin. On the Actions Detrimental podcast Hamlin did not like that Dillon talked about trending on Twitter because he wrecked him and Logano to get the controversial win.
“That just shows you have tone deaf you are, in my opinion,” Hamlin said. “That’s just tone-deaf. You’re strictly looking at this through your lens and you’re not being empathetic to the two people you just put in the fence.”
Dillon was talking about trending on Twitter after he was asked if it’s good for NASCAR when you’re willing to crash a driver to win.” I don’t know, man. It’s just the rules of the sport, right? It is what it is. Wins get you into the next round. I did what I had to do to cross the start/finish line first,” Dillon said.
“As far as good for the sport, I heard we were trending No. 1 on Twitter right now. People must be viewing it right now, so that’s good.”
Denny Hamlin said Austin Dillon crossed a line on Sunday
Hamlin understands that Dillon did what he needed to do to win. But when speaking to NBC Sports after the race, the three-time Daytona 500 winner said he never took anyone out to get a victory.
“Absolutely a line was crossed, but it’s an invisible line. It’s not defined. I mean, they have rules and provisions for stuff like this, but they never take action for it,” Hamlin said.
“What happens is you see young guys coming up in the short track ranks seeing that, and they think it’s fine. That’s why we see some of the lower series turn out the way they do in these green-white-checkered situations because some of the best that they’re seeing on Sunday do stuff like that. I mean, who am I to throw stones in a glass house? But I certainly never won one that way.”
Before Sunday’s race, Dillon’s last victory came on Aug. 28, 2022, when he claimed first place in the Coke Zero Sugar 500 at Daytona. And like on Sunday, Dillon needed the victory to earn a spot in the playoffs. So far this year, Dillon has earned just three top-10 finishes. In his career, Dillon has won five Cup Series races including the Daytona 500 in 2018.