SMT data released for Austin Dillon’s wrecks with Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin at Richmond

Well, it took less than 24 hours for the SMT Data to come out from Austin Dillon and his last-lap antics for the win. NASCAR has all the steering, brake, throttle, and speed data, and teams have access to all of it, for every car.

Pit crew member and writer Bozi Tatarevic shared the SMT Data on his X account, formerly known as Twitter, earlier today. It gives a clearer picture of what was happening in the car at the time Dillon wrecked Joey Logano and then Denny Hamlin.

Dillon more or less admitted that he meant to make contact with Logano. That was clear. He drove in too deep and used the 22 as his brakes. However, he chalked the Hamlin wreck up to wrong place, wrong time.

The only problem with that is Dillon’s spotter was heard on the radio yelling to “wreck him,” referring to Hamlin. Then Dillon appeared to do just that.

In a great thread breaking down the SMT Data, Tatarevic showed the differences between Lap 407 and Lap 408, the overtime laps.

In that data, it shows that on the green flag lap, Dillon had his wheel turned to the right -3.7 degrees. Just a touch to the right to make it out of the corner how he wanted. On the final lap, the white flag lap, Dillon had his wheel turned +33.9 degrees to the left and into Hamlin.

A few moments later we see Dillon turning left (+33.9 degrees) towards Hamlin while his throttle is wide open.

His steering wheel was pointed right (-3.7 degrees) at the same point on track on the previous lap.

Hamlin was running an even lower line than ghost car at that point. pic.twitter.com/fE3TFXBpwG

— Bozi Tatarevic (@BoziTatarevic) August 12, 2024

In an attempt to make it sound simpler: Austin Dillon had to change his racing line rather dramatically in order to make contact with Denny Hamlin. Does that mean it was intentional? No. But it begs the question, why did Dillon turn down so much compared ot the lap prior?

Now, Dillon won’t come out and say he wrecked Hamlin intentionally. If he did, he’s asking for a huge penalty. Still, this will go out to the court of public opinion. Which I don’t think is on his side much, either.

Austin Dillon got his win. He’s in the playoffs. NASCAR wants moments like this, or at least they create moments like this, with the win and in system. But this felt like a shift. A moment where it was taken too far.

Maybe not. Many fans didn’t seem to mind it. But what does that do to the legitimacy of the racing? NASCAR deals with criticism constantly for the racing style. A lot of people don’t believe rubbing is racing. And if rubbing ain’t racing, whatever happened last night definitely isn’t racing.