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NASCAR Monday Mash-Up: Austin Dillon sets off a firestorm after Richmond

JHby:Jonathan Howard•08/12/24•

Jondean25

Austin Dillon Victory Lane
Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports

So, did anything interesting happen on Sunday? Oh, Austin Dillon won? I’m sure that was a straightforward race with no drama. Of course, I’m joking, the NASCAR season returned and did so in a big way.

Austin Dillon jumped from P32 in points to P13 with the win. That’s how the win and you’re in system works. In the process, Dillon caused a ton of controversy and chaos.

So, it’s now time to go through the weekend. Truck Series and Cup Series action at Richmond. The Truck Series regular season came to a close while Cup still has three weeks to go before the postseason.

Christian Eckes clinches regular season championship

Going into the Truck Series race on Saturday, Christian Eckes was on pole and looking for a fourth win on the season. However, he would get something better than that.

By winning Stage 1, Eckes clinched the regular season championship. Unforutnately for the 19, it wouldn’t end with a race win.

Ty Majeski wins Richmond race, makes a statement

He wasn’t the most dominant truck early, but Ty Majeski turned it on when it mattered most. Majeski is the best short track racer in the Truck Series, to me.

With his second win of the season, two in a row going back to IRP, Majeski is in a good spot. If he makes the Championship 4, Phoenix will play to his strengths.

Kyle Busch shows with wrapped up wrist

As we saw in vacation pictures, Kyle Busch had his wrist wrapped up this weekend. At least while he was in the car he had it wrapped.

Busch claimed that he would have missed a race or two had it not been for the Olympic break. His wrist got snapped around at Indy by the steering wheel as Busch wrecked and he sprained it. His teammate, Austin Dillon, would have a lot more luck this weekend than Busch.

Denny Hamlin claims the pole at Richmond

The weekend started out great for Denny Hamlin. He earned the pole award on Saturday and was poised to be a favorite for Sunday’s race.

Hamlin was the slowest car in the first round of qualifying to make the fast five out of Group A. He was the first car to go for the final round to determine the pole winner, too. Somehow, he won it. Austin Dillon was able to qualify inside the top-10 as well, setting himself up for later in the race.

Kyle Larson flies around the country

This weekend Kyle Larson flew from Iowa to Richmond back to Iowa and back to Richmond. He came away with his second Knoxville Nationals win in two years, third overall and a huge paycheck.

In his NASCAR endeavors, Larson didn’t do so great. I say that like he didn’t run P7 and pick up 30 points, but he was largely out of the “winning” conversation on Sunday.

Goodyear “Option” tires debut

Thank goodness, we are finally seeing something being done about tires at short tracks. The new, softer “Option” tires were great.

Daniel Suárez and Michael McDowell made the most of their two sets of soft tires. Suárez drove from the middle of the pack to the lead to win Stage 2. What if we just made these the regular tires, though?

Erik Jones goes sideways in the pits

One of the funnier moments from Sunday’s race happened after Stage 1. During pit stops, Christopher Bell came out of his box and made contact with Erik Jones.

Jones went around and into his pit box, thankfully. The only problem, the nose of his car was pointing at the pit wall.

Rowdy brings out the scissors midrace

In one of the wilder NASCAR moments, Kyle Busch cut off his wrist wrapping during the race. For whatever reason, Busch didn’t like how it felt and got rid of it.

Despite struggling to find speed compared to his teammate, Busch finished P12. A solid showing for Rowdy after a hell of a summer.

Austin Dillon has race of his life for 400 laps

For the first 400 laps, Austin Dillon had the race of his NASCAR Cup Series career. He didn’t make mistakes, kept a level head, and genuinely earned the lead off of his speed and his driving.

Then, overtime happened. If it hadn’t been for Ricky Stenhouse Jr. we would be talking about how big of a win this was for Dillon. Instead…

Austin Dillon wrecks Logano, Hamlin in final corner to win

Of course, we all know how this story ended. Austin Dillon overdrove the corner to put his bumper to Joey Logano. Then it got worse.

According to SMT Data, Dillon turned left into Hamlin. That move hooked Hamlin and sent him around, the second victim of Dillon’s last-lap tirade.