Well that one is gonna be talked about for a long time. Austin Dillon was leading with two laps to go, going into turn 3 when Ricky Stenhouse Jr and Ryan Preece got together right in front of Dillon to bring out the caution and show us overtime. Today we will go over how we got to that point, drivers reactions to Dillon’s move. RCR’s response to the radio transmission from Dillon’s crew chief, how the playoffs look now with Austin Dillon’s major upset win and how this new option tire played out.
First Stage:
First Lap: It was a Joe Gibbs front row lockout at Richmond with Denny Hamlin starting first and Truex Jr second. Denny Hamlin lead the field to the green flag, and he and Martin Truex Jr. pulled away from the rest of the leaders. Chase Elliott had fallen to 7th. The teams all started on the yellow prime tire.
Lap 46: We have our first lead change of the day with Christoper Bell taking the lead from Denny Hamlin and Truex Jr being able to make the pass on Hamlin as the Top 3 caught up to the backfield.
Lap 59: Truex and Hamlin were battling side by side approaching a lapped car when Truex gets caught in the middle between Hamlin and the lapped car and gets squeezed. There was obviously contact but no damage.
Lap 70: Stage 1 is over. Caution is out. Bell wins the stage, getting him a valuable playoff point and 10 regular season points while Wallace finished fifth who needed a amazing day with points. Top 10 for Stage 1 is below.
1. Christopher Bell
2. Denny Hamlin
3. Martin Truex Jr
4. Joey Logano
5. Bubba Wallace
6. Chase Elliott
7. Austin Dillon
8. Chris Buescher
9. Tyler Reddick
10. Josh Berry
Pit Stops
Everyone pretty much took four tires with Daniel Suarez and Michael Mcdowell being the first teams to try the new Option tire, while Erik Jones and Christopher Bell got together on pit road with Bell clipping Jones as he was leaving his pit stall as Jones was entering his. He still came out in 1st on pit road but had obvious cosmetic damage to the front of the car.
Second Stage:
Lap 87: After a fierce battle between Bell and Hamlin since the green flag flew for Stage 2, Hamlin finally makes the pass on Bell to regain 1st place. Daniel Suarez who is the first driver to try out the option tire, restarted 16th and is now up to 5th.
Lap 93: In about 20 laps, Suarez is showing everyone how good these option tires actually are, taking the lead from Hamlin, with lap times being about 0.3-0.4 faster then the leaders currently. Teams all around will start to take notes seeing that these tires are extremely fast but we will see how the fall off is during a green flag run.
Lap 100: Michael Mcdowell had a penalty on pit road which forced him to restart at the rear but even after all that, he has now cracked the Top 10, showing that these option tires still have life in them even after 30 laps. Bell has made the pass for second but is 3.4 seconds behind Suarez. Will we see the falloff come quick before Suarez and the team can split this stage in half or will they be forced to come down pit road twice this stage, cause remember, this stage is 160 laps, instead of the 70 laps the first stage was.
Lap 114: Seems like the falloff is here for the option tires. Lasting about 40-45 laps, Mcdowell’s impressive run from the back is stopped at seventh, while Bell is slowly gaining into Suarez’s lead which only stands at 1.4 seconds now. Pit stops will be coming soon with the Option users being in the perfect spot to one stop this stage. Can Suarez and Mcdowell capitalize on stage points?
Lap 124: Chris Buescher was coming down pit road, all looked normal when he pulled away until he had to put it in reverse so the team can re tighten a lugnut. A team who needs to capitalize on all points possible today, unfortunately go a lap down and comes out in 32nd. They are gonna need two cautions to get back to the front here.
Lap 165: Green flag pit stops are pretty much complete here with today’s only caution so far being the stage break at Lap 71. Currently 8 drivers are on the option tires with Josh Berry leading them in 12th. We haven’t had a restart since Lap 80 and with the field as stretched out as they are, there really isn’t an advantage with the option tires. Suarez capitalizing on his awesome run to the front as he still sits in second place. 1.5 seconds behind Christopher Bell.
Lap 184: Multiple teams are on different strategies making this race super fun to watch. With the second round of pit stops just finishing up here in Richmond
- Martin Truex Jr. had a long stop after the No. 19 team had trouble on the left rear.
- Todd Gilliland was penalized for going too fast on pit road.
- Kyle Busch is on the option tire with less than 50 laps to go in Stage 2.
- Christopher Bell has made his two stops and is within 4.5 seconds of leader Tyler Reddick
Lap 205: Daniel Suarez has made a pass for the lead and is now leading the Cook Out 400 over Christopher Bell. A risky call coming out of the first stage, looks like it’s gonna get him a stage victory here today. Suarez stopped twice this stage with his pit crew providing excellent results each and every time.
Stage 2 Results: Daniel Suarez crosses the line and wins stage 2 getting himself a very useful playoff point, Berry gets the free pass and Kyle Busch will stay a lap down. Only 16 cars on the lead lap as this is only our second caution of the day.
1st: Daniel Suarez
2nd: Christopher Bell
3rd: Denny Hamlin
4th: Joey Logano
5th: Austin Dillon
6th: Michael McDowell
7th: Tyler Reddick
8th: Bubba Wallace
9th: Carson Hocevar
10th: Chase Elliott
Pit Stops: No problems this time around but there might be some concern for the 99 team as they are the only team in the Top 15 to be on the yellow prime tires. Suarez’s team was in a tough position since they used the option tire in the second stage to secure the win, but if they want a chance here at the end of the race if there is a late race caution, they will need to save their second and final set for that. Good call for the 99 team to secure some points in the second stage.
Lap 243: This is mainly a Daniel Suarez update, he is now 16th and very well much of the pace of everyone on the option tire. Suarez will wanna stay in the Top 20 to keep the 99 team in the fight.
Lap 250: Truex Jr. just went over the radio and reported that he has no power, just went down to pit road and the hood is up and smoke is rising. Truex came in over +100 points today, he did get 8 points today but a DNF for Truex and he is the first driver out of today’s race. No caution.
Lap 271: Austin Dillon cracked the Top 5. Coming off his worse season in his career, 32nd in points, hasn’t seen victory lane in over two years in now running in the Top 5. The party at RCR would last all week in Dillon can bring this Top 5 home, let alone the win.
Lap 280: Green flag pit stops are now starting up, will be interesting to see when the leaders come down and if anyone gets risky with the option tire.
Lap 284. WOOP WOOP that’s the sound of the speeding police and they got the leader Christopher Bell for too fast on pit road, having a amazing day is now forced to take a penalty, a huge turn of events in this race.
Lap 295: Green flag pit stops have finished and Denny Hamlin has cycled out to the lead after the pit road penalty for Bell. All lead lap cars are on the prime tire as Bell is now 13th after his speeding penalty.
Lap 313: Austin Dillon looks like he’s got a fast car today, starting to become bigger and bigger in Logano’s rear view mirror and trying to make a pass for second.
Lap 325: Austin Dillon has made the pass for second over Joey Logano. All that stands between him and a chance to race in Phoenix in November for his first cup championship is Denny Hamlin.
Lap 337: Some drivers starting to come down pit road for their final stops of the race, seems obvious that everyone stopping now will be going for the prime yellow tire instead of risking it for over 60 laps.
Lap 350: Green flag pit stops have completed with no issues and Hamlin is still in the lead with Dillon breathing down his neck and getting closer and closer to that bumper of the 11.
Lap 357: Austin Dillon can pretty much smell the fumes coming off of the 11 now, 0.2 second lead for Hamlin and Blaney makes a left turn onto pit road for the option red tire. Perfect time to come down for them if a late race caution were to come in the next 5-10 laps.
Lap 375: Denny Hamlin tries to cover the bottom but leaves way too much bottom open, Austin Dillon has made the pass for the lead and NASCAR Twitter is going crazy.
Lap 398: Ricky Stenhouse Jr and Ryan Preece get together right in front of the leader! Caution is out as Dillon gets by unscathed. Everyone but Suarez has a new set of option tires to go too. Expect everyone to use there last set here. Dillon comes out in front during those pit stops, Logano in 2nd and Hamlin in 3rd.
Overtime: The green flag is waving and we’re in overtime, Logano makes quick work of Dillon passing him coming out of turn 2 and coming to the white flag, Logano with about a car length worth of space coming down the back straightaway, going into turn 3, Dillon right hooks Logano sending him straight into the wall! Hamlin comes out of Turn 4 in the lead but then gets turned by Dillon as well! Austin Dillon wins at Richmond in an upset victory, 32nd in points, has now locked himself into the playoffs.
So obviously tons of things to address, first off, round of applause for NASCAR. This option tire was amazing, provided absolutely exactly what it was advertised to do, i wish there was more opportunity to use it, but an amazing first impression with it. Excited to see the future of the option tire in future races.
You must be wondering what the hell is an option tires, and well it’s a soft spongy like tire that is faster, easier to heat up but falls off quickly. The prime tire is just the regular race tire Goodyear sends to NASCAR every race weekend. NASCAR driver, Ryan Vargas shows us the difference between the two tires using the fingernail test.
Okay so now to address the elephant in the room, i’ve been on NASCAR twitter for years, and i’ve never seen so many fans collectively agree on one single thing, and that’s that Austin Dillon’s move in the final lap, should have had him DQ’ed. So let’s break it down from the final lap till the end of the night and some drivers reactions on Twitter regarding the incident.
• During the final lap, on Austin Dillon’s team radio, it was heard that someone came over the radio and said “Wreck him! Wreck him!” Then RCR went over the radio and said “Pop pop is proud of you”
• NASCAR after the race said that the finish was under review, Then later came over the radio and deemed Austin Dillon the winner.
• Joey Logano understandably upset, parked in front of Austin Dillon’s pit stop, proceeded to do a mini burnout, then got yelled at by NASCAR officials.
• Joey Logano then had some choice words for Austin Dillon which you can hear for yourself down below.
• Denny Hamlin also was able to get his side of the story out with reporters on pit road which you can also hear down below from the man himself.
• Austin Dillon and the team celebrated then it was time for the winners press conference with the first question obviously addressing the issue with the 22 and the 11, with Dillon saying he went into the turn in 5th gear and downshifted which caused the car to turn and hit Logano and then hitting Denny was just reaction.
• So this is when the press conference got really interesting, remember in the final lap, someone came over Dillon’s radio and said to wreck the 22? Well someone ended up asking RCR what happened and his response was “Hell no, nobody said to go out and wreck him, I was on the radio the whole time…”
•Then reporter Matt Weaver called RCR down and shows him the video and it was absolute gold.
• NASCAR’s Elton Sawyer spoke to reporters after the race, about the option tire and the Dillon incident.
• Denny Hamlin and NASCAR had a private meeting after the race with Hamlin not speaking about the conversation he had with NASCAR but when asked about if Dillon should be DQ’ed, he said “Well i was the first guy in 61 years, to get DQ’ed and that was for a piece of tape”
• Tyler Reddick also said on Sirius XM that Dillon’s win should be taken away.
If NASCAR were to issue any penalties, i personally feel like it’d only be drivers points to Dillon, a suspension for the Crew Chief for Race Manipulation for telling Dillon to wreck someone. I think it’s too late for NASCAR to take away a win now, especially for an incident like this. Even if Dillon were to get suspended for a single race, Chase Elliott got granted a waiver after his incident with Denny Hamlin so i don’t see why NASCAR wouldn’t grant a waiver to Dillon. But regardless, Dillon wins at Richmond, controversial yes, but when you look in the stat book, all it’s gonna say is Austin Dillon wins at Richmond. Regardless of the finish, the 3 team did absolutely amazing today, rode Top 10 all day, were the best crew all day on 4 tire stops. They had an amazing race, everyone on that team did their job today, so like i said, the win is controversial but the team doesn’t care. They are in the playoffs now, and yeah they might have the biggest targets on their back, but RCR said “If you kick a dog, he might bite you. But, you might get bit again yourself.” implying if someone tries to wreck Dillon, he won’t just let it happen. Either way Dillon’s win shook up the playoff bubble. Let’s take a look at them.
13th: Austin Dillon LOCKED IN
14th: Martin Truex Jr +78
15th: Ty Gibbs +18
16th: Bubba Wallace +3
Cutoff
17th: Chris Buescher -3
18th: Ross Chastain: -3
This is the end of the story.
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