NASCAR Cup Series races at Richmond Raceway never fail to deliver. After a controversial end to the spring race back in March, Austin Dillon’s victory today certainly notched up the controversial quotient. After a win back in August 2022 at the Daytona International Speedway, Dillon finally managed to break his 68-race winless streak and get the No. 3 RCR Chevy back in the victory lane.

It took more than elbow grease from Austin Dillon and his team to register this win. In fact, he dumped not just one but two drivers—a Ford and Toyota car—in his wake during the final few laps of the race. Unable to fire off well on the restart, Joey Logano managed to steer clear of Dillon and looked set to grab his second win of the season. But Dillon had other ideas.

Desperation getting better off the RCR driver at Richmond

With a rare chance to win the race and a playoff spot at stake, Austin Dillon decided to go all guns blazing. Having caught up to the back bumper of the No. 22 Ford Mustang, Dillon pulled off a good old bump and ran, spinning Logano into the wall. The carnage didn’t end there, as he also put Denny Hamlin into the wall to clinch his fifth career win in the Cup Series.

Dillon’s tactics to win the race were sketchy, to say the least, but he was prepared to pull out the big guns if needed. And that’s exactly what he did. “I don’t know, man! It’s been two years, and this is the first car I’ve had a shot of winning. I felt like two to go; we were the fastest car, obviously on the straightaway, and had to wreck the guy. I hate to do that, but sometimes you just gotta have it,” the RCR driver said during the post-race interview.

Before this race, Dillon was 32nd in points, and no one could’ve predicted him taking home a win and disrupting the playoffs situation big time. “We just never gave up, and we have great partners in Johnny Morris in Bass Pro Shops. I can’t thank all the people enough to help this team. Senix tools, but yeah, you just gotta get it done sometimes,” he concluded.

However, with Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin questioning his winning tactics, there is a possibility we might see a different Richmond winner by Tuesday. Confirming the same, the NASCAR VP of competition, Elton Sawyer, in a post-race interview with Frontstretch, said, “We’ll take a look at all the available resources … If anything rises to a level that we feel like we need to penalize, then we’ll do that on Tuesday.”

However, as things stand, this was indeed a win by the driver outside of those who were tussling for those playoff spots. And now there are only three spots up for grabs. Making it ever so nervy for the likes of Ross Chastain, Chris Buescher, and Bubba Wallace to see themselves in the next round.

Ty Gibbs loses his buffer with the points, but Wallace continues to make gains

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There were big changes in how the playoff bubble looked after Dillon’s win. With 100+ plus points, Martin Truex Jr. looked untouchable and was considered safe from the tussle that brewed below him in the points standings, but not anymore. An engine failure backed by a new winner outside of contention now sees his points buffer reduced to 72 from the cutline, as Truex finished last.

Not only that, Ty Gibbs is now under the threat of being overtaken in points by the likes of Bubba Wallace and Ross Chastain. Only 15 points separate the JGR driver from Wallace, who notched yet another solid P3 finish. However, talking of the Scandalous Richmond win for RCR, Bubba Wallace had different views. “So whatever it takes to win, I guess,” he said in a disappointed tone.

Next, Ross Chastain, despite a top-5 run, wasn’t able to keep his place in the top 16 and is currently behind the 23XI Racing star. But the biggest surprise of all was Chris Buescher tumbling down as the P18 finish saw him drop below the cutline.

In all, it’s good to see that the NASCAR Cup Series racing action returned with a bang after a two-week hiatus. This result sets up the stage perfectly for the next three races and also the start of the playoffs.