Richard Childress Racing indicated Wednesday that it plans to appeal penalties against Austin Dillon and the No. 3 Chevrolet team after last weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway.
Dillon won Sunday’s Cook Out 400 by bumping fellow drivers Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin out of contention on the last lap of an overtime finish. NASCAR officials ruled that Dillon’s actions were significant enough to warrant a penalty; the win stood, but the eligibility for the Cup Series Playoffs that went with it was withdrawn.
Dillon and the No. 3 RCR team were also docked 25 points in the drivers’ and owners’ standings. No. 3 team spotter Brandon Benesch was also suspended for the final three races of the regular season for his directive of “wreck him” on the team’s radio communications as Dillon battled Hamlin for the win.
“Richard Childress Racing is very disappointed in NASCAR’s penalty against the No. 3 team,” the team said in a statement on X. “We do not agree with the decision that was made and plan to appeal.”
The appeal will be heard by the National Motorsports Appeals Panel at a date to be determined.
The penalties dropped Dillon back to 31st in the Cup Series standings and removed him from the 16-driver grid for the Cup Series Playoffs. The win marked Dillon’s first in 68 races, ending a Cup Series drought of nearly two years.
Four playoff spots remain up for grabs in the final three regular-season events, starting with this Monday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 (11 a.m., USA Network, NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM) at Michigan International Speedway.
Austin Dillon’s dramatic, controversial win in the Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway was ruled to not count toward playoff eligibility, NASCAR officials announced in its penalty report on Wednesday.
Dillon — who keeps his victory but not the playoff benefits that typically come with it — indebted himself to Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin with a last-lap bulldoze and now simultaneously finds himself still searching for a postseason berth based on NASCAR’s ruling.
Here’s how Wednesday’s news impacts the standings and other drivers jostling for postseason positioning.
WHAT IT MEANS
With Dillon’s provisional spot from the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs eradicated, 12 drivers remain locked into the postseason grid with three races remaining in the regular season.
Martin Truex Jr. (+78), Ty Gibbs (+18) and Bubba Wallace (+3) remain above the current elimination line, but Chris Buescher now slots into the coveted 16th and final spot in the bracket. Buescher sits deadlocked in points with Ross Chastain but currently owns an advantage on the tiebreaker — which is best finish in the season, with Buescher twice a runner-up and Chastain’s season-high of fourth place.
Dillon’s No. 3 Richard Childress Racing team said Wednesday it plans to appeal NASCAR’s ruling and has three business days to do so, setting the deadline for 5 p.m. ET on Monday. Once the appeal is filed, both NASCAR and RCR representatives will present their cases to the National Motorsports Appeals Panel on a date to be determined, when the panel will rule to either uphold, modify or rescind the penalty.
Dillon — among the 20 other eligible drivers yet to lock into the postseason — will still have opportunities to win his way into the postseason with upcoming races at Michigan International Speedway, Daytona International Speedway and Darlington Raceway to close the regular season. Dillon is a two-time winner at Daytona, including a victory in the 2018 Daytona 500, with two top-five finishes and five top-10 finishes at both Michigan and Darlington.
The problem Dillon faces is that a win remains his only path to the playoffs. After Wednesday’s 25-point penalty, the driver of the No. 3 Chevrolet sits 31st in points, far outside points contention. He also has to contend with 20 other desperate competitors just as eager to win their way forward.
NASCAR’s decision to rescind the playoff-clinching benefits of Dillon’s victory provides some breathing room — though not much — to those currently surrounding the playoff bubble.
With a 78-point margin above the elimination line, Truex goes into Monday’s race at Michigan (11 a.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports App, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) in the most comfortable position of those without a victory yet this season.
Three races left in the regular season means three opportunities for drivers outside the 16-driver playoff grid to win their way in. That means at least one spot in the postseason will be awarded on points. Truex has earned the eighth-most points of anyone so far this year but has been ousted from title contention due to a plethora of winners before. Truex missed the final spot in the 2022 bracket by just three points to Ryan Blaney, who was the only non-winner to advance to that season’s playoffs.
Gibbs isn’t quite comfortable yet, with an 18-point advantage worth fewer than can be earned in just two stages. But Wednesday’s decision ultimately thrusts him forward one spot closer toward his inaugural appearance in the Cup Series Playoffs, no matter how narrow the current gap is.
Wallace’s surge in the past five races have produced four top 10s, the one exception a 13th-place finish at the Chicago Street Course that theoretically should have been even better if not for contact with Alex Bowman, the eventual winner. Six weeks ago, Wallace sat 51 points outside the playoff grid. That margin is now three points to the good for the driver of the No. 23 Toyota.
Buescher and Chastain, on the other hand, don’t need to panic with just three points to gain on Wallace over the next three weeks in the current squabble for 16th on the postseason grid, but the competition remains as tight as ever.
Chastain’s results through the summer stretch have left plenty to be desired, with just one top-five finish (fifth, Richmond) and an additional top 10 (10th, New Hampshire) over the past seven races. To be fair, Chastain did lead 45 laps at Nashville and appeared to be on the way to a second-place finish that afternoon — until an Austin Cindric spin with two laps to go in regulation set up overtime … when Chastain wound up wrecked with a 33rd-place finish instead. That alone marked a 31-point swing for the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing team.
In that same seven-race span, Buescher has only done marginally better on the results sheet with two top fives — fifth-place finishes at both New Hampshire and Nashville. The No. 17 RFK Racing team appeared quick last week at Richmond, qualifying inside the top 10 and netting points at the end of Stage 1, but a pit-road error cost them a lap and ultimately produced an 18th-place finish.
The net result of Richmond, however, gives everyone at least one more spot for which to fight over the next three weeks.
NASCAR officials ruled Wednesday that Austin Dillon’s win at Richmond Raceway would not count toward eligibility for the Cup Series Playoffs. The decision arrives three days after the Richard Childress Racing driver bashed his way to victory by crashing Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin on the final lap of Sunday’s Cook Out 400.
Dillon’s penalty was the most severe of a handful of those issued after Sunday’s race, which was decided by a chaotic last lap of overtime. After a full review of footage and data, NASCAR officials ruled Dillon’s victory would stand, but that his automatic berth in the 16-driver postseason field would be voided for violating Section 12.3.2.1.b of the NASCAR Rule Book, which deals with playoff eligibility and states: “Race finishes must be unencumbered by violation(s) of the NASCAR Rules or other action(s) detrimental to stock car auto racing or NASCAR as determined in the sole discretion of NASCAR.”
Dillon and the No. 3 team also were docked 25 points in both the drivers’ and owners’ standings, dropping Dillon from 26th to 31st in the former rankings. Officials also indicated that the rescinded playoff eligibility for Sunday’s win applies to both the drivers’ and owners’ championship.
Elton Sawyer, NASCAR senior vice president of competition, indicated that the penalties stemmed from the total chain of events through Turns 3 and 4 on the final lap.
“I think in all due respect to the appeal process, we looked at this and the totality of everything that happened as you enter Turn 3 and as the cars got to the start/finish line,” Sawyer said. “So, as we look through all of that data, we came to the conclusion that a line had been crossed. Our sport has been based going for many, many years, forever, on good, hard racing. Contact has been acceptable. We felt like, in this case, that the line was crossed.”
Logano was fined $50,000 for his actions after the race, when he spun the tires of his No. 22 Team Penske Ford in anger near the RCR No. 3 team’s pit box. That show of disgust — a violation of the member code of conduct for compromising the safety of others — sent celebrants from Dillon’s team scattering on pit road and drew a stern rebuke from NASCAR officials at the scene.
NASCAR competition officials also suspended Brandon Benesch, the No. 3 team’s spotter, for three Cup Series races for his guidance of Dillon atop the grandstand roof. A review of transmissions from the No. 3 team radio revealed Benesch saying “wreck him” as Dillon battled alongside Hamlin with the checkered flag in sight.
In a statement posted to social media Wednesday, Richard Childress Racing announced it plans to appeal the penalties levied to Dillon and the No. 3 team. Representatives from Team Penske said Wednesday that Logano accepts his penalty and will not plan to appeal.
Dillon entered Sunday’s race in 32nd place in the Cup Series standings, but his performance had vaulted him into the 13th position on the provisional playoff grid. Wednesday’s ruling reduces the number of playoff qualifiers to 12, with four open spots to be determined in the three remaining regular-season events. Dillon is still eligible for the playoffs overall, should he win one of those remaining three races.
Both Hamlin and Logano were critical of Dillon’s last-lap tactics, which turned both of their cars into the outside retaining wall. Logano had cleared Dillon on the final restart and opened a slight advantage in the two-lap dash to the finish, but Dillon hustled his No. 3 RCR Chevrolet deep into Turn 3, clipping Logano’s No. 22 Ford and spinning it sideways.
Dillon’s loss of momentum allowed Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota to inch ahead at the exit of Turn 4 but contact between those two sent Hamlin broadside into the outside wall. Dillon drove on to his first Cup Series victory in 68 races, a span of nearly two years.
Dillon and his team owner and grandfather Richard Childress defended the final-lap moves in the winner’s press conference. Dillon explained he was trying to get Logano’s car loose and that his contact with Hamlin’s car “was more of just a reaction.” He also noted the pressure of a lengthy winless skid and the stakes of qualifying for the Cup Series Playoffs.
“I don’t know, man. It’s just the rules of the sport, right?” Dillon said. “It is what it is. Wins get you into the next round. I did what I had to do to cross the start/finish line first.”
Dillon, Childress and No. 3 crew chief Justin Alexander all indicated they did not hear Benesch’s directive of “wreck him” from the spotters’ stand. Told that a recording of the team’s radio transmissions seemed to confirm that language, Childress said: “I didn’t hear him, and I was on the radio with him. We’ll see. If he did, he did a damn good job at it. He won the race.”
Sawyer explained the thought process that went into the officials’ decision to suspend Benesch, saying, “If you look at at the crew chief and you look at the spotter, and view them as calming voices in the driver’s ear, in this case, we just felt like we’ve all listened to the audio. We know exactly what was said. We just felt like that that’s not what we need spotters doing. That’s not what we need (from a) crew chief sitting on the box. They’re a calming voice to what the situation is in front of them, and they’re supposed to be spotting for the race, not making comments like were made, as we all know.”
Sawyer addressed the fine for Logano’s pit-road anger, saying that officials would take a closer look at post-race protocols for people going over the wall while cars are still moving toward their designated parking areas.
“Some of this, we’ve got some work to do on our side,” Sawyer said. “There was a lot of people on pit road, and there always is. We have our officials out there. The drivers need to understand that. Totally understand the emotion — I get it, I’ve been there a few years back. But you have to respect the fact that we do have people on pit road. Our officials will be there, security will be there. We’ll do a better job on our side to make sure that families and young children and sponsors and of that nature are not on the hot side.”
Sam Mayer moved up the NASCAR ranks at a rapid pace. His trajectory was compared to two-time Cup Series champion Joey Logano as JR Motorsports created an opening for Mayer on his 18th birthday, halfway through the 2021 season.
Then, reality hit. Mayer, who claimed three years ago he wanted to break every NASCAR record, realized how demanding the jump to the Xfinity Series was. Meanwhile, his closest foe, Ty Gibbs, was accelerating, winning in his series debut.
It took Mayer more than two full seasons — 71 starts — to taste victory for the first time, coming at his home track, Road America. The dry spell was unfamiliar to a driver who climbed through the other developmental series in style.
“You kind of run out of excuses more than anything,” a reflective Mayer told NASCAR.com recently of his Xfinity route. “I had two years to develop and learn, and we saw that at the end of last year. This year, I’m executing races a lot better, not choking and finishing the job and taking wins that maybe I don’t deserve.”
Among the catalysts of Mayer’s surge was being paired with crew chief Mardy Lindley ahead of the 2023 season. The duo first worked together in 2019, splitting time in the Craftsman Truck Series and the ARCA Menards Series. The following season, the pair won five of the 13 ARCA races they entered.
“I push him as hard as I can,” Lindley said of his working relationship with Mayer. “That’s a key to him. Sam needs to be pushed; he thrives off it. But there is a limit, and with my experiences with him, I do know that limit.”
With six victories over the last 34 starts, no driver has won more Xfinity Series races since Mayer claimed his first checkered flag. His first three triumphs all came on road courses, a background he’s excelled at since racing go-karts at 4 years old.
Until Mayer won at Homestead-Miami Speedway last year to clinch a spot in Championship 4, he was concerned about being labeled a road-course specialist.
“I’m not too fluxed about that because I know when I show up to a road course, I have that extra little bit of confidence,” he added. “Getting those oval wins were huge. We got [Homestead] last year and two this year already.”
Mayer’s two oval wins in 2024 came in completely different fashion. In a dramatic ending, he caught Ryan Sieg and edged out the No. 39 car by a few inches at Texas Motor Speedway. At Iowa Speedway, he controlled the race late, leading 47 laps and holding off Riley Herbst in an overtime restart.
Jonathan Bachman | Getty Images
After Iowa, Mayer declared he was upset that his name wasn’t thrown around for opportunities at the Cup level while other young phenoms have moved up the proverbial ladder.
Clearly, Mayer has his eyes set on the Cup level.
“It’s definitely a step,” Mayer said of potentially moving to the Cup Series. “I’m not going to deny the fact that whatever team, when, if that comes soon in the next year or so, it’s going to be a step. It’s going to be a long lesson to learn at some point in time. You see a lot of these other guys that I’ve been racing against the last couple of years, they are in Cup now and still haven’t won yet.
“It’s interesting because it’s that big of a step and that much harder, I acknowledge that. But I feel like I can go up there and make something happen.”
Mayer doesn’t expect to necessarily win a race in his first 50 starts, but he set a lofty goal of earning 10 to 12 top-10 finishes. He knows a move to Cup will come with its trials and tribulations.
“I’m sure I’m going to get my teeth kicked in,” he added about whenever he does move to Cup. “I’m going to put my mouthguard in and get ready to rip on it. I like to learn my lesson the hard way a lot, and I feel like going Cup racing, you’re going to learn those lessons either way. The sooner I can experience that, the better, and make my future career that much longer.”
Through the process of weighing his options, Mayer has leaned on key people in his life. Lindley wants what is best for his driver, even if that means holding off on making the step up.
“I’m not going to sugarcoat it, I would like to see him have one more year of Xfinity,” Lindley stated. “Just more experience. That is a tough outlet, especially if you’re with a B [level] or C race team and not with one of the top-performing race teams. At the same time, you have to learn how to race that style of race and you have to learn that car. Sometimes, the sooner, the better.”
One of the key components that Lindley wants to see an improvement from Mayer is consistency. Although the No. 1 team had a trying start to the 2024 season, wrecking out in three of the opening four races, some of that boils down to positioning. Mayer was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and his five DNFs are tied for the third-most among full-time Xfinity drivers. And though Mayer has locked up an Xfinity Series playoff berth, he ranks 12th in the series standings. His 16.8 average finish ranks 13th among full-time competitors.
Mayer’s next chance at consistency will come at Michigan International Speedway on Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET, USA, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
“We just have to address it head-on,” Lindley said. “We have to shoulder that responsibility, no matter what. Whether it’s his fault, our fault, somebody else’s fault. The bottom line is the bottom line. If we can get on that path, then you’re talking about a championship contender.
“The next 13 are the most important of [Mayer’s] career and mine as well. You may not ever be in this opportunity, and you’ve got to take full advantage of it.
Selfishly, Mayer wants to be in the Cup Series as soon as next season. He has reportedly seen interest from multiple organizations to fill a potential spot for the upcoming season.
“I want to go Cup racing right now because the car is so different from what these Xfinity cars are that, as soon as you can hop in one of them and learn them before you compete for championships and all that, it’s going to take you a while,” he said. “I’m ready to learn. I’m ready to soak up information. I feel like I’m mentally ready. It’s just about getting everything done and buttoned up and making sure that I’m ready and not just saying that I’m ready.”
Erik Jones is set to return to the No. 43 Toyota with Legacy Motor Club in 2025 after agreeing to a multiyear contract extension, the team announced Tuesday.
Jones has spent each of the past four seasons in the famed No. 43 car, joining in 2021 under different ownership at what was then known as Richard Petty Motorsports. The Michigan native is a three-time winner in NASCAR Cup Series competition, with two of those victories coming in the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, a crown jewel on the NASCAR calendar for the toll it takes on both driver and vehicle.
Team co-owner Maury Gallagher joined the team in 2022 with seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson’s addition to the team ownership in 2023, rebranding the program to Legacy Motor Club.
“Erik Jones has been the consistent cornerstone of Legacy Motor Club’s driver lineup since Maury chose to enter NASCAR’s highly competitive Cup division,” Cal Wells III, CEO of Legacy Motor Club, said in a team release. “He’s a proven champion that, surrounded with the right team powered by Toyota, can and will compete for race wins against the very best on any given Sunday. Having personally known Erik for close to 14 years, I feel blessed he’s chosen to remain with the Club, and I’m looking forward to winning races with him at the helm of the iconic No. 43.”
In 276 Cup starts, Jones has accrued 37 top-five finishes and 89 top 10s in addition to his three victories, with two pole positions and 827 laps led. The No. 43 car has yet to lead a lap in 2024, but Jones has led at least one circuit in each season, including in his Cup debut with Joe Gibbs Racing in 2015.
“I’m looking forward to what we can build at Legacy Motor Club,” Jones said in a release. “I’ve been with the No. 43 car for a handful of years and feel like I’m coming into some of the best years of my career. I am hoping to grow alongside Legacy MC in the seasons to come.”
The 28-year-old missed two races this season after incurring a back injury in May at Talladega Superspeedway. Through 21 starts in 2024, Jones has one top-10 finish — eighth in the season-opening Daytona 500 — and ranks 28th in points with a season-long average finish of 22.5. His playoff hopes still remain, however, with races ahead at both Daytona International Speedway and Darlington Raceway before the playoffs, both tracks at which he has won.
“Erik is one of the most talented drivers in NASCAR,” Johnson said in a release. “I’ve had the chance to race against him and have had a chance to watch him drive for other teams and the Club. I admire his talent and am glad we will have him race for us for the upcoming years. Erik will be a key to helping us turn our program around, and we look forward to giving him the tools he needs to go out on Sundays and race for wins and eventually a championship someday.”
Up next for Jones is Michigan International Speedway on Sunday (2:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App), where Jones has collected one top five and three top 10s in 11 starts.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Aug. 13, 2024) — HEYDUDE, a brand known for stylish and comfortable footwear, is coming together with the No. 1 motorsport in America for the first time to launch the new HEYDUDE x NASCAR collection, available for purchase as of today at https://www.heydude.com/collections/nascar-collection, Rack Room Shoes and select retailers.
The collection features five different designs of HEYDUDE’s classic Wally silhouette selling for $74.99 each, including three that are inspired by beloved drivers Chase Elliott, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Kyle Larson.
• Wally NASCAR: Race track ready, the black design features NASCAR written on the silhouette and NASCAR color details throughout the design.
• Wally NASCAR Daytona 500: Inspired by the iconic international speedway, the beige shoe features Daytona branding and NASCAR color details throughout the design.
• Wally Chase Elliott®: The blue No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts livery best associated with NASCAR’s 2020 Cup Series champion comes to life with plenty of additional detail from the car to the shoe.
• Wally Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Combining multiple fan favorites, this bright green shoe is inspired by the iconic Sun Drop scheme the NASCAR Hall of Famer continues to roll out with JR Motorsports.
• Wally Kyle Larson: This shoe brings to life the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion’s red, white and blue HendrickCars.com design synonymous with the No. 5 Chevrolet.
“HEYDUDE is an ideal partner to add to NASCAR’s licensing portfolio, and one that will absolutely resonate with NASCAR fans” said Megan Malayter, NASCAR vice president of licensing and consumer products. “The brand’s ability to delivery easy-on, easy-off comfort with designs that allow our fans to stylishly express themselves and their passions is a perfect fit at or away from the race track.”
“HEYDUDE is thrilled to come together with one of the most prestigious racing organizations in the world, NASCAR, to celebrate the exhilarating world of motorsports through this unique collection,” said Paul Nugent, Chief Marketing Officer at HEYDUDE. “We know that HEYDUDE and NASCAR fans alike will enjoy this collection that combines iconic NASCAR designs and personalized styles inspired by some of the sport’s top drivers.”
With just three regular season races remaining, Elliott, Larson and the rest of the NASCAR Cup Series roll into Michigan International Speedway for the FireKeepers Casino 400 at 2:30 p.m. ET this Sunday, Aug. 18 (USA Network, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Tickets are available for purchase at www.nascar.com/tickets.
Roger Turbush doesn’t want to be known as just a short-track guy.
The 43-year-old competitor has made 15 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour starts with all but one coming at his home track in New York’s Riverhead Raceway. On Wednesday, Turbush will load up his No. 88 Modified and travel to Thompson, Connecticut, to join the Modified Tour for the Thompson 150 presented by FloSports.com at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park (8 p.m. ET on FloRacing).
“Riverhead is a bullring. It’s a lot of rough-and-tumble racing. You’ve got to be very strong to do it,” Turbush said. “You’ve got to have a big backbone for it, and I’ve got that. But I want to try somewhere else where we can use some of our speed and setup and see what we’ve got.
“I want to do more. I want to do more than just Riverhead. I want to try it.”
The Turbush family is well known amongst Long Island’s many dedicated racing families. A member of the Turbush family has been active in the local racing scene since the 1950s, when Turbush’s grandfather Charlie raced at tracks like Riverhead, Islip and Freeport.
That racing tradition has been carried on by each subsequent generation. In all, at least seven members of the Turbush family have driven race cars. They include Turbush’s father, Dan, his aunt Lolly, his uncle Buddy, his brother Chris, his cousin Brandon and his nephew Mark Stewart.
Roger Turbush began his racing journey 16 years ago. He was a force in Riverhead Raceway’s Super Pro Truck division, winning his first track championship in 2010. He added subsequent championships in 2012 and 2016.
The 2017 season saw him make the jump to the headlining Modified class. He broke through for his first Modified win at Riverhead in 2019 and always makes a point to join the field when the Modified Tour visits the quarter-mile bullring.
“It took us a little while. We’ve had some good runs here and there,” said Turbush, who earned a career-best third with the Modified Tour at Riverhead in 2021. “I got my first win at Riverhead in 2019. I’ve had some good runs with the Tour. I got third back in 2021 at Riverhead, and I’ve gotten a bunch of top 10s since then.
“I’ve been pretty decent, just obviously not good enough. The last two years we’ve been knocking on doors now. We’re getting closer.”
While most of his racing career has been spent at Riverhead, Turbush has always dreamed of traveling to race. It’s why during his days racing in the Super Pro Truck class at Riverhead he did some traveling with the Northeastern-based ProTruck Challenge.
Roger Turbush, driver of the No. 88 Rheem Modified, signs autographs for fans during the Miller Lite Salutes Mike Ewanitsko 200 for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Riverhead Raceway on June 24, 2023 in Riverhead, New York. (Photo: Dakota Moyer/NASCAR)
That allowed him to make his debut at Thompson during the 2014 season, which saw him charge from the eighth starting position to win at the 0.625-mile paved oval.
In four seasons with the series, he won eight times and captured the 2015 series championship. He also won at Thompson two additional times, with his last victory coming in 2017.
However, he’s never raced a Modified at Thompson, and he knows that will be vastly different than the Truck he last raced there seven years ago.
“We don’t expect to qualify (well) because I’ll still probably be getting used to it,” Turbush admitted. “During the race is probably when I’ll get up on it and I’ll start focusing on the cars. I race the cars; I race the competition. In practice you’re not doing that.
“I expect to do a little bit better in the race than I do in practice and qualifying. I expect to qualify in the back. I’m not expecting anything crazy.”
Turbush is not anticipating a win Wednesday. For him and his family-owned team, a top-10 finish at Thompson would be a victory.
Realistically, he thinks a finish inside the top 20 and loading a clean race car in the hauler at the end of 150 laps would make Wednesday evening’s race a success.
“I’ve been there before. I’ve got the feeling (for the track),” Turbush said. “We’ve got a pretty basic setup for it. I think we can definitely get a top 20. I want to get 150 laps under my belt.
“We’ve had a lot of people come together to get to this race here on Wednesday. We’re definitely looking forward it.”
Assuming all goes well Wednesday, Turbush hopes to be back at Riverhead on Saturday night to compete in the annual running of the Baldwin/Evans/Jarzombek 77. After that, his next scheduled race is the third annual Eddie Partridge 256 on Sept. 14.
In a perfect world, Turbush would like to do a bit more traveling with the Modified Tour this year. If he does well at Thompson, then who knows: He might just load up his hauler and take a little trip south near the end of the year.
“I want to span the horizon. I want to do more than just Riverhead,” Turbush said. “I want to try and see what we can do elsewhere. We don’t want to just do one track. We want to try out different tracks. I’ve been trying to do this.
“Another bucket list is New Hampshire. Another is Martinsville. I watch it all the time. We’ve got good cars. I want to see if we can get to where we compare.”
Editor’s note: This story has been edited to reflect NASCAR’s decision to rule Austin Dillon’s victory ineligible for a postseason berth.
RICHMOND, Va. — Austin Dillon’s Chevrolet sported a camouflage paint scheme in this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway. Not much was hidden about the No. 3 machine or its motives during the final lap of overtime; not after a systematic dispatching of Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin by brute force to score its driver’s first win in nearly two years.
After a brash display of offense-first driving, Dillon joined team owner and grandfather Richard Childress in playing some defense as they met the press at the end of the Cook Out 400. The damage control came in response to pointed criticism from Logano — who revved his No. 22 Ford angrily as he smoked past the No. 3 pit stall post-race — and from Hamlin, who bristled at the idea that Dillon “did what he had to do” — something he stated nearly verbatim in his winner’s press conference — to clinch a Cup Series victory. That’s not counting the verdict from the court of public opinion with the fans, who throttled the No. 3 team’s celebration with boos from the grandstands.
Part of Dillon’s defense was that his rivals would have acted similarly, had the roles been reversed.
“I’ve seen Denny and Joey make moves that have been running people up the track to win,” said Dillon, now a five-time winner in the Cup Series. “This is the first opportunity in two years for me to be able to get a win. I drove in there and kept all four tires turning across the start/finish line. To me, I’ve seen a lot of stuff over the years in NASCAR where people move people. It’s just part of our sport. You know what I mean? Remember when Joey said ‘short-track racing.’ He knows what it was. In your shoes, what would you do?”
What Dillon ultimately did will be entered in the Richmond track’s history books as one of its most controversial chapters. The tactics took some of the bloom off what was setting up to be a clean, rosy finish in regulation for the 34-year-old driver, who was leading at the end of a banner day until a late caution flag for a crash involving Ryan Preece and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. set up overtime. Dillon had been leading, but when he was outdueled by Logano on the final restart, desperation set in.
Dillon drove in deep into the final set of corners, turning Logano’s Ford sideways into the outside retaining wall then hooking the No. 11 Toyota of Hamlin into the wall after it eked ahead in that aftermath. Dillon then drove on unfettered to the checkered flag, but the sailing was about to get choppy.
A review of radio transmissions revealed that “wreck him” was part of the No. 3 team’s frantic communications to Dillon during that final span. Childress denied hearing any such directive from spotter Brandon Benesch, and Dillon said that he tuned out what he was hearing in his helmet in the mad scramble to the end — noting both the stakes and how full his hands were with the steering wheel.
“Dude, at that point I’m elbows up, holding the throttle down, just trying to get to the start/finish line literally,” Dillon said. “I am sideways off of (Turn) 4 ’cause I’m already three-quarters of the lane up the track, hammer the gas. I’m just looking at the start/finish line. That’s it. I ain’t hearing [expletive] at that point, you know? Your eyes turn red. You see red, you get to the end of the race.
“Daytona, last lap when I won there at the 500, your eyes see red. There’s one thing on your mind: get to the start/finish line first, period. No matter if anybody came on the radio, it doesn’t matter. Like, you have one job to do, it’s to get to the start/finish line first. That maybe can answer your question. A lot of people lose their jobs because they don’t get to the start/finish line first.”
Sean Gardner | Getty Images
Childress, the Hall of Famer with control over that employment, had his own defense.
“I don’t think anybody — I never heard it on our radio, unless somebody was making it up. I didn’t hear it. Did you?” Childress said, posing the question to No. 3 crew chief Justin Alexander, who also said he didn’t hear it. “Not on our No. 1 (radio) channel, No. 2 channel, no one said that. If you believe in everything you hear on the Internet, I’m not Santa Claus if it ever comes up. Probably somebody just saying it, put it in there.”
Pressed further about Benesch, Childress hedged, but approvingly so.
“I didn’t hear him, and I was on the radio with him,” Childress said. “We’ll see. If he did, he did a damn good job at it. He won the race.”
Regardless of who said or heard what, Dillon cleaned out two of the sport’s top stars in an arcing 1-2 punch that would make a heavyweight prizefighter tip his gloves. That move will be debated for days, and Hamlin did it in real-time after a moment of reflection and a brief consultation with crew chief Chris Gabehart as he leaned up against his No. 11 Toyota post-race.
In his remarks, Hamlin said he knew a questionable move was coming from Dillon and acknowledged the stakes, but he also noted the lack of a deterrent for such last-lap antics. Dillon hadn’t led a lap all year until Sunday’s 400, and he caught lightning at Richmond to vault from 32nd in the Cup Series standings to 13th on the provisional postseason grid before NASCAR levied its penalty Wednesday.
“It’s tough, because this is what the young short-track racers see, and they think that this is OK because they watch the professionals on Sunday that are supposed to act like adults just do dumb (expletive),” said Hamlin. “And it’s just amazing that it’s allowed. I mean, I don’t fault him, because he’s completely desperate, right? He’s 30th in points. He jumps 20 spots in points, or whatever the hell it is. It’s, his season’s saved. Now, he’ll have to pay repercussions down the line for this, but it’s so worth it from his standpoint because there’s no guardrails or rules that say, ‘don’t do that.'”
Logano’s critique was marked by fury and a scathing assessment of Dillon’s Cup Series tenure, now in its 11th full season.
“I beat him fair and square on the restart, and he just pulls a chicken— move,” Logano said, after noting that the win should be revoked. “He’s a piece of crap. The kid, he sucks. He’s sucked his whole career, and now he’s going to be in the playoffs and good for him, I guess.”
“It’s been rough the last two years,” Dillon said. “For me to see the front and race with two of the best guys in the sport and prove that I can do it when given the opportunity, it was hard for me not to go to, like, get upset in the car. I had to keep my [expletive] together, to tell you the truth. This stuff ain’t easy. I won championships in the Truck Series and Xfinity Series. I’m sure there’s many people out there that have wanted my head to get out of the 3 car for a long time. I’m fortunate I have a great family, great partners at RCR. When given that shot, you just got to take it.”
