Austin Dillon secured his spot in the NASCAR playoffs after a dramatic end to the Cook Out 400 in Richmond. By intentionally wrecking competitors Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin on the final lap, Dillon, who was languishing at 32nd in the points standings, clinched an unexpected victory. This aggressive move quickly stirred controversy, but it also drew defense from seasoned driver Kevin Harvick.
On his podcast “Happy Hour,” Harvick offered a robust defense of Dillon’s actions, shedding light on the pressures and expectations that current NASCAR regulations impose on drivers. According to Harvick, the incentivization structure that rewards winning above all else forces drivers into making morally ambiguous moves.
He argued that the real issue lies not with the drivers, but with NASCAR’s regulatory framework, which fails to draw clear boundaries for racing conduct. He explained, as quoted by 5Goats:
“The system makes you do things that are so far outside of right and wrong, that you have to be able to set all that aside, worry about the consequences another day and you have to do what you have to do to put yourself in Victory Lane. Because the bar is so low on what’s OK that you can do whatever you want. I’ve been in this scenario to have to do it. We’ve seen some of the other drivers have to do this.
“… So, I think that the real question here is what does NASCAR do? Is there a new bar? Is there an actual line in the sand that says, ‘We’re not gonna race like this anymore.’ It’s different with these cars. They don’t bend when you dive the car in there and you run into the back of another car. It lets you do things with your racecar that you never were able to do with the old-style racecar.”
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Harvick continued:
“But you can’t fault Austin Dillon for doing what he had to do to put himself in the playoffs with a 32nd place points position. You have to make that move on Joey Logano. Now, the next move with the right rear. I think at that point I mean he’s just trying to get to the finish line first. What we have to decide as a sport in this particular point is how do you officiate it? Do you officiate it?
“Because I think there has to be a line in the sand of what’s acceptable and what’s not. And until NASCAR officiates it like that, these things are gonna keep happening because that’s the system that you’re in. Win and you’re in and that’s what Austin Dillon had to do.”
Dillon himself, while aware of the potential backlash from Logano and Hamlin, appeared unfazed after the race. Reflecting on the tactics employed by others in the past, Dillon noted:
“The two guys I got into it with have done a lot that I’ve learned from on the last lap of the races themselves. I’ve heard Joey’s interviews, ‘How bad do you want it? You gotta do whatever it takes.’ Different things and seen him do it at Martinsville and different places on the last corner. So, this time he was a victim of it and sometimes it happens and you gotta handle things. How would I have handled my interview after the race in that situation? I don’t know.
“It’s frustrating for anybody that’s involved in that, but he’s got a lot more wins than I do and a championship. If he retaliates, he retaliates. I think my grandfather’s [Richard Childress] hilarious; you know he said something, ‘You might kick a dog, but he’ll bite back at some point.’ His quotes are always the greatest.”