Richard Childress reveals Austin Dillon Richmond incident cost team $3M

Last season, Austin Dillon earned a hard-fought win at Richmond late in the season. NASCAR thought it was a bit too hard-fought. While keeping the win on his record, Dillon was kept from gaining playoff eligibility as a result among other punishments for the Richard Childress Racing driver.

Instead of making the playoffs and finishing no worse than 16th, Austin Dillon finished 32nd overall in points. The difference in the payouts that NASCAR gives out between those two positions is quite a bit.

Talking to Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the Dale Jr. Download, Richard Childress brought up Richmond. It is not something he is going to get over easily.

“The whole thing, that deal [Martinsville], and Richmond cost us over $3 million,” Childress explained. “It isn’t always about the money but … it’s real money. But those two things, and I’ll never get over Richmond.

“Of all the things that’s happened in our career, the Richmond race I’ll never get over that one. Because I’ve seen it happen so many times, so many times I’ve seen those things happen. And the same two guys [Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin] involved in it is the same two culprits, but it came down to who had the most power who could get in NASCAR’s ear the hardest and they came down on us the hardest. It just disappoints me.”

The interview with Richard Childress is very interesting. Dale Jr. gets a lot of old stories out of him that NASCAR fans will appreciate.

Richard Childress defends driver despite NASCAR penalty

Look, I know that Richard Childress has to defend his driver and grandson. But he can’t possibly believe that Hamlin and Logano have wrecked multiple drivers in the last corner of a race to win?

Austin Dillon put a huge “bump” to the rear of Logano’s car to send him up the track and into the wall. Then he came down the track and took Hamlin. Afterward, Chris Gabehardt revealed that Hamlin took a hit that produced a 32G spike. That was the highest g-load ever recorded on a JGR Next Gen car. It was a dangerous move.

Childress has been around the sport for a long time. This is no longer the “boys have at it” era of the sport. He should know that. You can tell that he genuinely is bothered by the issue because Earnhardt didn’t even bring Richmond up.

This season Richard Childress has more to worry about than one race. Kyle Busch wants to see more performance out of the cars. Austin Dillon could be preparing for a role in the office at RCR soon. Making the most of his last years will be crucial. But Richmond is still on his mind.