Austin Dillon pulled off a miracle for RCR at Richmond. Although the team has been struggling throughout the season, Dillion managed to win his first race this season and make it into the playoffs. This is not the first time that the No. 3 Chevy driver has made a surprise win, but many are unhappy with how he did it.

During the last lap of the race, Austin Dillon was sandwiched between Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin. On the final turn, Dillon makes contact with Logano, who ends up throwing the latter into the outside wall. When Hamlin tried to take advantage of the incident and overtake Dillon, there was another contact for No. 3, and again, he wasn’t the one to suffer. With this maneuver during the last turn, Dillon took the win, but at what cost?

Having a race winner who was P32 on the grid is highly unlikely; however, after excellent performance throughout the race, Dillon’s final choice must have won him the race, but he definitely lost a lot of fans.

Sabotaging someone else’s race for the win is always going to be looked down on, and now, Dillon’s actions are coming to bite him in the back. While fans were not happy with how he won the race, his crew seemed to have encouraged it.

During the final turn of the final lap, Austin Dillon’s team radio, supposedly the team owner and his grandfather Richard Childress, said, “I don’t care how you do it,” before he hit Joey Logano and then added, “Wreck him! Wreck him!” before Denny Hamlin.

While it did help the driver win the race, it left many questioning their sportsmanship. And, the team owner chastising his grandson for the on-track theatrics didn’t sit well with the community. As a result, fans took no time to lash out at the team owner for his audacious demands.

The next thing? Richard Childress was seen denying any saying anything on the radio. The Fronstretch Podcast Manager and co-host of Happy Hour, Trey Lyle, shared a video with the caption, “RC’s reaction to the audio of the 3 team at the end of the race,” which clearly shows personnel showing Richard Childress a video on phone with his voice on the radio.

While fans had their own share of things to say about Dillon, Joey Logano wasted no time in the post-race interview to call Dillon out and say that the No. 3 Chevy driver’s move “was chickens**t; there’s no doubt about it.” Compared to other drivers who have multiple top-5 finishes, many believe that Austin Dillon should not get a spot in the playoffs with this result.

Fans are unhappy about having Austin Dillon in the playoffs

It’s easy to see why fans have not taken well to this win. Although there were many cheering him on during the race, the end killed it for many. “Cheapest win of all time: #NASCAR,” said one fan after seeing the results of the Richmond race. This could probably be a reason for how the team strategized the whole thing, right from Richard Childress’s radio words, and the No. 3 driver’s on-track tactics.

“Well, that was pretty disgusting,” added another fan who is appalled by how Dillon decided to take the win. While cars in NASCAR often do make contact, it’s not very common for cars to get wrecked like Logano’s did. Although Hamlin did not completely lose the race, he lost his chance of winning it. But such intentional wrecks often call for penalties. And in addition to that, even NASCAR VP of Competition gave a fair hope, saying, “We’ll take a look at all the available resources.”

One fan wrote, probably remembering what happened the last time he won a race, “@austindillon3 can only win a race by wrecking everybody around him. No-talent snake. #NASCAR.” Remember on August 22, 2022, how Dillon avoided the wreck and took the lead? He was running in second place when a massive crash occurred on a rain-soaked track, taking out most of the field, including the leader, Austin Cindric. Dillon somehow managed to save his day just by controlling his car.

“#nascar Wow, your cool because you wrecked him. Sad you couldn’t just pass him, you know, like racing,” said one fan who believes that Dillon did not win by employing racing, but he had to resort to wrecking other cars to secure his victory. However, this win marks a big achievement for Austin Dillon and the No. 3 team, and it would be unfair to pass any judgment until NASCAR reviews the resources and comes up with its final call, if any.

The negative comments did not stop coming, as another fan added, “Austin Dillon is an embarrassment to the sport. #NASCAR.” Wrecks and on-track contacts are a part of the sport. So despite the hatred, this run has counted well for Dillon.

With that said, do you think that Austin Dillon deserved to win the race? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.