NASCAR driver Joey Logano appeared to be closing in on victory at Sunday night’s Cook Out 400 in Richmond, Virginia, when Austin Dillon hit him in the fourth turn on the final lap and sent him crashing into the wall.
Dillon then clipped Denny Hamlin, causing another crash, and crossed the finish line first for his first win in nearly two years. In the process, he clinched a spot in the playoffs that begin next month.
Dillon told reporters that he was trying to get Logano ‘loose’ and that the collision with Hamlin was just a ‘reaction.’
His two opponents, however, didn’t take the actions too kindly.
‘He has no intentions to race,’ Logano told Fox Sports’ Bob Pockrass. ‘I beat him fair and square in the restart and he pulls a chicken (expletive) move. He’s a piece of crap. The kid, he sucks. He sucked his whole career and now he’s going to be in the playoffs and good for him, I guess.’
Hamlin also was unhappy that NASCAR didn’t penalize Dillon.
‘We have rules to prevent ridiculous acts, but it’s been a long time since those rules have been enforced,’ he told Pockrass, adding, ‘We’re never ever going to be taken seriously as a sport because we have no real officiating.’
NASCAR Senior VP of Competition Elton Sawyer told reporters that the actions in the last lap were ‘right up against a line’ and the circuit would look at the video and listen to audio.
‘We want to make the right decision,’ he said.
Any decision would be made on Tuesday.
