“I got half the country that hates me and half the country that loves me. It’s going great.” When Austin Dillon asked his bull rider friend Kid Rock how he was, the latter gave the answer he needed. “I can kind of relate to that,” Dillon replied. The past week had witnessed a somersault of events for Richard Childress‘ grandson, as many fans believe he is in his villain arc.

Last weekend, Austin Dillon took out two stellar and rough drivers of the sport – Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin. He even claimed to be mimicking their past moves, something he is doing in Michigan as well. So is Dillon entering his Denny Hamlin era? Although the man icon himself disagrees, fans believe so.

Austin Dillon owning it like Hamlin?

Remember Denny Hamlin’s reckless tactics in Pocono last year? With seven laps to go, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver squeezed Kyle Larson to the wall and kept him there. Then at the right moment, Hamlin swerved by to seize victory. That cemented Hamlin’s status as NASCAR’s black hat. Then, after winning the Bristol playoff race last year, Hamlin welcomed the roar of boos and detracting chants from the fan stands. Austin Dillon also seems to be in a similar game at the moment.

After his wrecking tactics on the final lap of the Cook Out 400 race, Austin Dillon faced the consequences. NASCAR stripped the playoff eligibility of his win and also docked points. Yet the RCR driver is owning it – in the pre-race driver introductions at Michigan, he walked in style. Dillon could be seen in an NBC video, waving and blowing kisses to a riled-up crowd throwing boos at him. The caption read: “Austin Dillon really said “🥰.””

The penalty must be crippling for the lagging RCR team right now, yet Austin Dillon demonstrated no regrets. He hailed both Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano’s nonchalance. “This is a game. In the end, you don’t hate the player, you hate the game. That was the situation that I was up against. I’ve learned a lot from Joey and Denny over the years. They don’t have any regrets in what they do on the racetrack. I can’t either and I don’t feel that way.”

Although Dillon put Hamlin’s health and championship chances in jeopardy, the latter spoke positive words about him. He blamed the ‘win-and-you-are-in’ playoff format that started in 2014. “We’re still going to push the edge to try to get the guy out of the groove to win the race, we’re still going to make contact,” he said. “I think there’s a balance of entertainment and sport that can be had here. It’s just a matter that’s one where you really need to put your foot down and say we’ve got to police the sporting aspect of this at that point.”

Despite NASCAR’s villain himself refraining from labeling Austin Dillon, the NASCAR community has taken a different stance.

NASCAR fans insinuate villain status for Dillon

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Well, there can only be one villain in the sport at a time. Denny Hamlin had famously taunted the crowd after his Bristol win last year: “I beat your favorite driver!” He reiterated the statement after winning the Busch Light Clash as well. Since then, his villainous status has shrunk somewhat. So will Austin Dillon take his place? Some people believe so, as one fan commented: “He tryna be the next NASCAR villain.” Another fan chimed in, stressing that Dillon may rival Hamlin: “Bigger villain than Hamlin?”

Others rooted for Austin Dillon as he cheerfully accepted his situation. Although most of the NASCAR Cup garage called for a penalty, veteran Kyle Petty sided with some fans in the notion that Hamlin and Logano have wreaked havoc before. So one fan cheered for Dillon to come back: “He was kissing his mediocre career goodbye.” Another fan echoed: “AD for the win.” However, somebody noted that blowing kisses was burying his reputation further. “Dude’s making enemies with everyone and doesn’t even give about anything.”

A few others simply turned a blind eye to Dillon’s villainous tactics. Ultimately, the RCR driver is in a dire position and would need to work very hard to pull himself out. So somebody invalidated the boos: “31st in the points but y’all still feel threatened enough to boo him 😭😭😭🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻” Another fan taunted: “Blowing a kiss after being eliminated from Playoff contention lol.”

Villain or not, Austin Dillon is certainly drumming up a lot of interest among fans. Let us see if he can truly maintain his villain status or if it’s just a gimmick.