Austin Dillon‘s controversial victory has sparked many questions. Fans and critics are wondering if calling this a win for Dillon is the right thing after all. The No. 3 RCR driver managed to win his first race in 2 years, but that came at the cost of losing hearts. Although there are a few who count this as a fair win, many are worried about the ramifications of letting such an incident go.

At the Richmond Raceway, Austin Dillon decided to deliberately wreck Joey Logano‘s car, somewhere an aftereffect of his team radio. Right behind him at that point was Denny Hamlin, who saw an opportunity amid the crash and tried to clutch the win. However, Dillon had other plans, as he decided to wreck the JGR car too.

In the 567th episode of Dale Jr. Download, the co-hosts reacted to the highly controversial NASCAR Cup race finish at Richmond and discussed the wrecks caused by Austin Dillon as he made his way to the start/finish line. According to Junior, the sport has undergone some major changes over the years, as he explained. “There’s, I don’t know, an authoritarian figure in the garage that, when he speaks, the drivers go, ‘Yes, sir. You bet. You got it, man.’ That’s the way Helton was; nobody messed with that guy.”

Coming to the current scenario, he said, “Now, it’s very holding hands.” He believes that there should have been some action taken on Dillon’s victory, saying, “The drivers are coddled, and NASCAR doesn’t really hammer in these moments.” The race officials gave Dillon the win immediately without considering that there needed to be some action taken, and this has left Dale Earnhardt Jr. worried about the future of the sport. Voicing his concerns, Junior Further stated, “I worry that when we go to the next drivers’ meeting or we have a situation where the drivers need to be corralled, they won’t be.”

If NASCAR has let this incident go, who is to stop other drivers at the back of the grid in terms of points to try doing the same? Adding to his point, he said, “Even if somebody does say, ‘Guys, we’ve got to tone it down,’ I don’t feel like a driver would think twice, saying, ‘Whatever, I saw what happened last week.'”

Additionally, referring to the past, Dale Earnhardt Jr. brought up a time from Michael Waltrip Racing days. “I think NASCAR is very scared of what happened in the past,” said Junior as he remembered Martin Truex getting pulled out of the playoffs to give Jeff Gordon a seat. That incident did stir up quite some controversy, and according to the JR Motorsports boss, this is something the authorities are trying to avoid. There was a way that NASCAR could have made the right decision, according to Earnhardt Jr., but as he mentioned, it’s too late for that now.

How could NASCAR have done justice at the Richmond Raceway?

As of now, Austin Dillon is declared the winner of the race, and that’s the decision NASCAR made in the heat of the moment. There was no fine or penalty for the RCR driver, even after the two drivers ruined the race. According to Dale Earnhardt Jr., if NASCAR really wanted to do something about the incident, they would have had to act as soon as the race was over.

The fact that NASCAR granted Dillon the win made it a little too late to go back on their decision, as that would only fuel the controversy.

During the podcast, Dale Earnhardt Jr. admitted that he believed what Dillon did was “bad.” But in the end, he knows that the decision is ultimately NASCAR’s; as he explained, “They had a chance to fix all that if they made the call at the race. [NASCAR] had a chance to not ruin an organization if you made the call.”

Update on Austin Dillon’s win? While some fans and drivers continue to call it a s***show, RCR is celebrating, and NASCAR has decided to use one more day to check all resources. “NASCAR will not announce its ruling on the Richmond incident today. Decision pushed to Wednesday, which sometimes seems to be the case when officials have more than usual to sort through,” update Jeff Gluck on X.

With that said, do you think NASCAR made a wrong move by granting Austin Dillon the quick win? And if not, then what is your take on the last-lap wreck? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.