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NASCAR Cup Richmond: Dillon crashes his way into the playoffs

Austin Dillon took out two rivals in the sprint to the finish for a controversial victory and a NASCAR Cup playoffs spot at Richmond Raceway.

Entering the final 30 laps Dillon worked his way around Denny Hamlin for the lead and appeared headed to victory when a crash involving Ricky Stenhouse Jr and Ryan Preece entering Turn 1 caused a caution and sent the race into a two-lap overtime.

All of the lead-lap cars elected to pit and Dillon was first off pitroad followed by Joey Logano and Hamlin. Logano got a good jump on Dillon on the restart and grabbed the lead.

On the final lap entering Turn 3, Dillon ran deep into the corner and hit the back of Logano and knocked him into the wall.

Hamlin then pulled alongside Dillon but got turned into the wall himself by Dillion, who took his first win in nearly two years in the #3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.

The win is the fifth of Dillon’s NASCAR Cup career and it also marks his first top-five finish of the 2024 season.

Austin Dillon, Richard Childress Racing, Chevrolet Camaro (Photo by: Matthew T. Thacker / NKP / Motorsport Images)

Asked if his moves on the final lap were fair, Dillon said: "I don't know, man. It's been two years. This is the first car I've had with a shot to win. I felt like with two to go, we were the fastest car. Obviously had to have a straightaway. Wrecked the guy. I hate to do that, but sometimes you just got to have it.

"I got to thank the good Lord above. It's been tough for the last two years, man. I care about RCR, these fans, my wife. This is my first for my baby girl. It means a lot. I hate it, but I had to do it."

It was a frantic night of action following NASCAR’s summer break, as a further two victory contenders dropped out of the fight before the finish.

Christopher Bell, who had one of the fastest cars all night and led 122 laps, took himself out of contention when he was caught speeding during a round of green flag pitstops early in the final stage.

Bell’s Joe Gibbs Racing team-mate Martin Truex Jr – who led the most laps in the spring race at Richmond – was taken out of the race after 250 laps with a blown engine.

With Dillon taking a contentious win, Hamlin was still able to cross the line second ahead of 23XI Racing duo Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace, as Ross Chastain rounded out the top five for Trackhouse Racing.

NASCAR Cup Richmond - Race results

   
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4
   
   
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2
   
Cla Driver # Manufacturer Laps Time Interval Pits Points Retirement
1 United States A. Dillon Richard Childress Racing 3 Chevrolet 408

3:03'18.953

  9 50  
2 United States D. Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing 11 Toyota 408

+0.116

3:03'19.069

0.116 10 52  
3 United States T. Reddick 23XI Racing 45 Toyota 408

+0.117

3:03'19.070

0.001 9 40  
4 United States B. Wallace 23XI Racing 23 Toyota 408

+0.278

3:03'19.231

0.161 10 42  
5 United States R. Chastain TrackHouse Racing 1 Chevrolet 408

+0.541

3:03'19.494

0.263 10 32  
6 United States C. Bell Joe Gibbs Racing 20 Toyota 408

+0.667

3:03'19.620

0.126 11 50  
7 United States K. Larson Hendrick Motorsports 5 Chevrolet 408

+0.872

3:03'19.825

0.205 9 30  
8
C. Hocevar Spire Motorsports
77 Chevrolet 408

+0.902

3:03'19.855

0.030 10 31  
9 United States C. Elliott Hendrick Motorsports 9 Chevrolet 408

+1.273

3:03'20.226

0.371 10 34  
10 Mexico D. Suarez TrackHouse Racing 99 Chevrolet 408

+1.410

3:03'20.363

0.137 10 37  
11 United States R. Blaney Team Penske 12 Ford 408

+1.489

3:03'20.442

0.079 10 26  
12 United States K. Busch Richard Childress Racing 8 Chevrolet 408

+1.661

3:03'20.614

0.172 10 25  
13 United States W. Byron Hendrick Motorsports 24 Chevrolet 408

+1.857

3:03'20.810

0.196 10 24  
14 J. Berry Stewart-Haas Racing 4 Ford 408

+1.956

3:03'20.909

0.099 10 24  
15 United States M. McDowell Front Row Motorsports 34 Ford 408

+2.240

3:03'21.193

0.284 11 27  
16 United States B. Keselowski RFK Racing 6 Ford 408

+8.024

3:03'26.977

5.784 8 21  
17 United States T. Gilliland Front Row Motorsports 38 Ford 408

+8.025

3:03'26.978

0.001 9 20  
18 United States C. Buescher RFK Racing 17 Ford 408

+9.491

3:03'28.444

1.466 9 22  
19 United States J. Logano Team Penske 22 Ford 408

+19.798

3:03'38.751

10.307 10 32  
20 United States N. Gragson Stewart-Haas Racing 10 Ford 407

+1 Lap

3:03'23.464

1 Lap 9 17  
21 United States C. Briscoe Stewart-Haas Racing 14 Ford 407

+1 Lap

3:03'25.110

1.646 8 16  
22
T. Gibbs Joe Gibbs Racing
54 Toyota 407

+1 Lap

3:03'25.111

0.001 9 15  
23
Z. Smith Spire Motorsports
71 Chevrolet 407

+1 Lap

3:03'25.589

0.478 9 14  
24 United States A. Cindric Team Penske 2 Ford 407

+1 Lap

3:03'25.908

0.319 9 13  
25 United States R. Preece Stewart-Haas Racing 41 Ford 407

+1 Lap

3:03'26.133

0.225 9 12  
26 United States T. Dillon Kaulig Racing 16 Chevrolet 407

+1 Lap

3:03'29.420

3.287 8    
27 United States J. Haley Rick Ware Racing 51 Ford 406

+2 Laps

3:03'23.265

1 Lap 9 10  
28 United States A. Bowman Hendrick Motorsports 48 Chevrolet 406

+2 Laps

3:03'24.806

1.541 10 9  
29 United States E. Jones Legacy Motor Club 43 Toyota 406

+2 Laps

3:03'26.843

2.037 9 8  
30 United States D. Hemric Kaulig Racing 31 Chevrolet 406

+2 Laps

3:03'27.647

0.804 9 7  
31 United States J. Nemechek Legacy Motor Club 42 Toyota 405

+3 Laps

3:03'24.842

1 Lap 8 6  
32 United States H. Burton Wood Brothers Racing 21 Ford 405

+3 Laps

3:03'26.262

1.420 9 5  
33 United States R. Herbst Rick Ware Racing 15 Ford 405

+3 Laps

3:03'28.774

2.512 10    
34 United States C. Lajoie Spire Motorsports 7 Chevrolet 404

+4 Laps

3:03'25.735

1 Lap 10 3  
35
P. Retzlaff MBM
66 Ford 402

+6 Laps

3:03'30.821

2 Laps 8    
36 United States R. Stenhouse Jr. JTG Daugherty Racing 47 Chevrolet 397

+11 Laps

2:54'52.031

5 Laps 7 1 Accident
37 United States M. Truex Jr. Joe Gibbs Racing 19 Toyota 250

+158 Laps

1:53'39.233

147 Laps 7 9 Engine

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