Richard Childress Racing has bagged a much-needed win and the #3 team has made it to the NASCAR Playoffs. But how the last lap went down begs the question that is on everyone’s mind: Was that fair racing? The crew chiefs, whose drivers got wrecked and rammed into on the last turn of that last stretch, are furious and have called upon NASCAR to do the right thing.

Racing indeed gets intense at times, accidents happen and cars do spin out. What really concerned the losing teams at Richmond this weekend was the rummage to the victory lane.

The crew chiefs of Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin believe that Austin Dillon could not win fair and square

It is a fact that Austin Dillon had a fast car coming into the weekend. He proved it during the practice session, and he was confident about the race. His performance was also decent throughout the race, and rather impressive as he found his way up from beyond 30s to the top-five. But he still wasn’t in the lead after the caution, and he kind of went rogue after the restart. Dillon tried hard to make a pass, but he was unsuccessful, and he just made up his mind for the wreck, it seemed. At least that’s what the crew chiefs of #22 and #11 are claiming.

Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin were two of the top contenders for the win. But then, Austin Dillon’s theatrics began. He tried hard to pass Logano through the first and second turns, but he couldn’t catch up. Then came the third turn and Austin just bumped into #22’s rear, which left it spinning out of the track and into the wall. Denny Hamlin took the opportunity and overtook Dillon, but the #3 shot #11 as well down to the fourth position, before taking the checkered flag.

Joey Logano’s crew chief, Paul Wolfe, spoke to the track reporter from SiriusXM NASCAR Radio after the race and told them how unfortunate the race turned out to be. He vented, “I’m not sure really what to say about that, I mean it’s as far from racing as you can get. It’s really disappointing that NASCAR allow stuff like that to go on.” Denny Hamlin’s crew chief, Chris Gabehart, joined suit by responding to the video on X.

The turn of events during the last stretch of the Cook Out 400 is being criticized by the entire NASCAR fraternity. All the broadcasters and reporters are questioning the winning team. Spectators want to know what went down that last lap. There are also some audio clips claimed to be from #3’s team radio circulating on the internet, where people can be heard asking to wreck the race leader. While RCR’s owner, Richard Childress, and Dillon’s crew chief, Justin Alexander, have denied these claims, there are reasons to believe otherwise.

This is not the first time that RCR has gotten caught up in such a controversy. Just last year, RCR’s Sheldon Creed was fined $25,000 for intentionally wrecking Sammy Smith in Nashville. It was proved that the command on the team radio, much like this weekend’s incident, barring the verdict hasn’t been given yet. Another disconcerting factor about the incident is that when Justin was repeatedly asked about his thoughts regarding the finish, he maintained that he did not watch the last two turns and wasn’t sure what exactly went down there.

So, what did the winning team owner have to say when he was asked to switch positions with Team Penske or Joe Gibbs Racing?

They would have done the same to us, asserts Richard Childress

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RCR owner told Bob Pockrass that they’ve both been around the sport for long enough to know that cars crash into each other every now and then. It was a normal occurrence and there was no foul play involved. Even Justin confirms that this is the format of racing nowadays, and drivers do what they need to for the win.

However, there needs to be a line that separates the fair play from the foul play. “Like at some point we’re gonna have to make the call on what’s acceptable and not. Flat out just wrecking someone, that’s not racing. So, we’re a racing series or what are we?”, retorted Paul.

Now, NASCAR’s Senior VP of Competition has clarified that ripping drivers of their wins is not the culture, he also hinted that there might be repercussions.