Austin Dillon dumps Logano and Hamlin for the W at Richmond
It was a ‘wreck ’em to win’ finish at Richmond Raceway for the Cookout 400, with winner Austin Dillon dumping Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin in order to grab the checkers. The jaw-dropping final laps quickly added controversy to the first race back after the two-week break for the Olympics and overshadowed the endless talk of tire options, which had dominated the conversation.
Hamlin, who received deafening boos from the grandstands during driver introductions, was on pole and led the field to green. Despite Virginia being Hamlin’s home state, clearly the fans don’t have a lot of love for their driver. Perhaps some of their animosity was leftover from Hamlin’s controversial win at Richmond earlier this year when he jumped the final start but was not penalized for it because it was “too late in the race,” according to NASCAR’s Elton Sawyer. On today’s start, he and teammate Martin Truex Jr. quickly pulled away from the rest of the pack. By Lap 46, Bell charged to the front and assumed the lead, as both Chase Elliott and Josh Berry lost ground from their starting positions.
After winning the stage, Bell headed to the pits where he hit Erik Jones, spun him sideways into the pitstall, and then subsequently bumped Noah Gragson. Starting in P1 for Stage 2, there was noticeable damage to the front of Bell’s #20 Toyota. Shortly after, the damage appeared to affect the aero as he quickly lost the lead to teammate Denny Hamlin.
On Lap 93, the team of Daniel Suarez was the first to opt for the soft tire compound, whereupon Suarez put on an impressive show as he ran from 16th to the lead in just 15 laps. Michael McDowell followed suit with the soft tire option and also rocketed into the top 10. As the stage played out, several more cars opted for the soft red tire, but ultimately, Suarez nabbed the stage. He was followed by C Bell, Hamlin, Logano, Dillon, McDowell, Reddick, Wallace, Hocevar, and then Elliott, who traded a bit of paint with Truex in order to gain the spot.
Stage 3 began with the majority of cars exercising their soft tire option. However, by then, Suarez was back to the prime yellow tire and was practically run over on the restart. Shortly afterward, Martin Truex radioed to his team that he had no power and was blowing up. A trip to Pit Road confirmed the car’s engine had expired, and Truex retired from the race. Meanwhile, Austin Dillon, who had shown speed during practice, was uncharacteristically running in the top five as teammate Kyle Busch encountered problems on pit road and was now a lap down.
Pit stops on lap 284 saw Christopher Bell and Alex Bowman penalized for speeding, as most everyone returned to prime tires. Hamlin inherited the lead, and was followed by Joey Logano and Austin Dillon, who battled for 10 laps before Dillon finally made the pass. On lap 357, Dillon then passed Hamlin for the lead and held it for 41 laps as he stretched the gap. But with the win in sight and just two laps to go, suddenly the caution flew for Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Ryan Preece, as Stenhouse drifted up just as Preece turned down. The caution sent everyone scrambling for their final set of soft red tires.
On the restart, with Logano to his right and Hamlin behind him, Dillon held back until the second line of the restart zone. Up until then, Hamlin was convinced that he would be able to drive under Dillon and set sail for the lead. However, Dillon was surprisingly slow to go on the drop of the green, seemingly more focused on holding Hamlin back than paying attention to Logano on his outside. The situation allowed Logano to gain pace and clear him on the outside. With a four-car lead and coming to the line, Logano entered the turn and was suddenly cleaned out when Dillon ignored the braking point, throttled up, and angled the turn as he sensed there was no other way to catch Logano. He sent the #22 spinning up the track and then instantly took aim at Hamlin, hooking him in the right rear and spinning him up the track as well. With his carnage behind him, Dillon then claimed the win while thanking God.
According to NASCAR’s Elton Sawyer, the finish is now under review to assess potential penalties.
Current results have the Top 10 listed as Austin Dillon, Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick, Bubba Wallace, Ross Chastain, Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson, Carson Hocevar, Chase Elliott, and Daniel Suarez. However, the finishing order is subject to change pending NASCAR’s review.
