Richard Childress calls out Austin Cindric for 'intentionally' wrecking Austin Dillon

We’ve got more drama in NASCAR this weekend. Last Monday, it was the feud between Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott that captured everyone’s attention. This time, it’s Austin Cindric and Austin Dillon who got caught up in some on-track beef. And Richard Childress has some thoughts to share.

With 22 laps remaining in the Enjoy Illinois 300, Cindric got into the back end of Dillon, which forced the No. 3 car to collect Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Childress didn’t believe the contact was accidental.

Per Jeff Gluck of The Athletic, the car owner says that Cindric wrecked Dillon “intentionally” on Sunday.

Richard Childress says Austin Cindric wrecked Austin Dillon on purpose as payback.

— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) June 5, 2023

Below is footage of Sunday’s incident involving Cindric, Dillon and Stenhouse. You can judge for yourself as to whether this could’ve been intentional.

The accident warranted a red flag in an attempt to fix the wall before the final 20-plus laps from World Wide Technology Raceway.

Austin Dillon and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. go into the wall. Looked like Austin Cindric helped that one. Red flag as the wall needs to be fixed. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/MkznvxZoZQ

— The Comeback (@thecomeback) June 5, 2023

Many who watched Sunday’s race believe the contact made by Cindric was intentional. Some are calling on NASCAR to suspend the driver, as the sport has made the move recently.

Last week, NASCAR suspended Elliott for right-rear hooking Denny Hamlin midway through the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Many fans compared Cindric’s actions to Elliott’s a week ago.

Elliott did not participate in the Enjoy Illinois 300.

Without question, NASCAR will take a look into the incident on Sunday. But it’s pretty clear how Childress feels about it: The contact was intentional from Cindric in an attempt to take Dillon out of the race.

Austin Dillon fired up after incident with Austin Cindric

After he was knocked out of Sunday’s race, Dillon didn’t mince any words when speaking with reporters. He was pretty fired up over Cindric’s actions on the racetrack in St. Louis.

“I was wrecked intentionally by him,” Dillon said. “Hooked right, just like Chase and Denny and Bubba (Wallace’s) deal (last year). He better be suspended next week.”

Austin Dillon didn’t mince his words toward Austin Cindric.

“I was intentionally wrecked by him, hooked right, just like Chase and Denny and Bubba’s deal. He better be suspended next week.”

(from ⁦@stephen_stumpf⁩) pic.twitter.com/CpZEwjpzAr

— Frontstretch (@Frontstretch) June 5, 2023

Dillon walked away pretty quickly after the 15-second interview.

In both incidents Dillon mentioned, NASCAR slapped Elliott and Wallace with one-race suspensions. Wallace’s right-rear hook came during the 2022 season while Elliott’s happened last week.

Could we see another NASCAR driver suspended for an intentional right-rear hook? And, if it continues to be a problem, with the league think about handing down harsher punishments to eradicate the maneuver from the sport?

It’s going to be interesting to see how NASCAR addresses this situation between Dillon and Cindric and whether it decides to start handing out longer suspensions for similar actions.