While battling for tenth-place with just 55 laps to go, Austin Dillon and his former teammate Tyler Reddick made contact entering Turn 1. It was a three-wide situation with Dillon in the middle between Brad Keselowski on the outside and Reddick on the inside.
The No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet was the only one who lost out, spinning across the track and slamming the outside wall.
He was able to climb from the car under his own power, but his race was now over.
The RCR driver then decided to show his displeasure with Reddick, chucking his helmet across the track and in the direction of the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota.
A furious @austindillon3 just threw his helmet at @TylerReddick’s car! 😳
— Motorsport.com (@Motorsport) July 23, 2023
🎥 @NASCARonNBC pic.twitter.com/L5jT8fSZoN
After being checked and released from the infield care center, he told NBC Sports: “That I was mad. I don’t know - I heard (Dale Earnhardt) Jr.’s replay said that I came down a little bit. I felt like I was holding my own. He was at my left-rear going in there, and I knew we were three-wide. I think I’ve got the right to at least hold my lane. I’ve got to turn at some point to get down. Brad (Keselowski) was on my outside, maybe a half-lane up. But Tyler (Reddick) drove it in there, and obviously I feel like he drove it in deep enough where he had to come up the track into me. We can look at the SMT and see the little fine movements that we make, but I felt like that was not the time to do that for the No. 45 (Reddick).
I hate it for the No. 3 BREZTRI Chevy team. We really sucked at the beginning of the race. We got the car much better and made some good strategy moves. But we just live to fight another day, I guess. It was a pretty rough hit.”
When asked if the helmet throw was enough, Dillon concluded: "No, I just need to start wrecking some people."
It's not the first time a driver has tossed their helmet in the direction of a rival's car in anger. Tony Stewart famously did it to Matt Kenseth after the veteran drivers wrecked while battling for the lead at Bristol in 2012.
