Richard Childress’ Grandson Sends Final Warning to Roger Penske’s Star Amid NASCAR’s Silence on $100,000 Loss

A tit for tat and a clash for clash. The Circuit of the Americas was filled with all the action and drama you could have wanted. And just into the fourth lap, we had our very first right-hook moment. Richard Childress’ Youngest Grandson Ty Dillon, in an attempt to get ahead, was seen shoving the Penske Star Austin Cindric on exit of turn 20. Result? The latter had no space or opportunity to get back to the asphalt until the run-off area turned to grass. And when it did, his first action was to, well, take revenge. 

He found the Kaulig Racing star and right rear-hooked his No. 10 into the wall, on the front straight with Ty showing his frustration over the radio, “I’m not gonna say anything but you know what I’m thinking. That was some absolute b——-.” However, with no extensive damage to the cars, the two continued with the race with NASCAR not even making a note of it. Austin wrapped up the race at 25th after starting from a 36th and Dillon followed him at 28th.

A few days after the incident, we did see NASCAR finally taking notice of the incident and ruling a fine for Austin: A $50,000 fine with 50 drivers point reduction. As a result, he was sent to a 35th finish. However, if history is any lesson, we have seen drivers like Bubba Wallace get a one-race suspension for what he did to Chase Elliot back in 2022. But this time? Seems like the league felt short.

Austin avoided a one-race suspension, owing to the tighter nature of the Circuit of the Americas. And well, the no black-and-white but grey situation of NASCAR rules viewing every incident as a standalone. Understandably, Ty Dillon is not exactly happy.

Yesterday, Fox Sports reporter Bob Pockrass asked Ty, “They said, you know, it wasn’t at as high a speed. There wasn’t as much apparent damage. That it didn’t really rise to the level of what they felt suspension was necessary.”

Answering to him, the No. 10 driver said, “I think that’s where maybe NASCAR gets itself in a little bit of trouble is when you try to play gray areas, what’s fast enough. I mean, for the past, I don’t know, eight years of my career, they do a safety meeting in Daytona, and they show us a picture of a car sitting dead sideways. It gets hit by one that’s going 75 to 100 miles per hour.

“And the amount of damage that does is pretty incredible. So, you know, luckily nobody was near the back. I guess. And nobody was coming and couldn’t see me and hit me while I’m dead stopped, you know, parallel to the front stretch. So would that have been enough to get a penalty?”

“I just think that we just got to be a better job of just kind of making those calls black and white and setting a little bit better standard. But I know they’re in a tough call. They got to make decisions. To me, they did a good enough job of making something out of it. But just got to make sure that he knows specifically that he can’t do that again, especially to me.”

The 33-year-old was clearly not done with his warning to the Team Penske star on the track itself. Things are only worsened by the fact that while NASCAR did fine Austin with $50,000, the damages done to the No. 10 are much higher in cost. According to Kaulig Racing’s President’s recent remarks on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, the Chevy is in a pretty bad shape.

“You know, front clip, upright on the right, front nose, bumper, hood, right front fender, about five to eight positions in the race, and you know, whatever points that is. So, I mean, you could keep going deeper and deeper when you look at that. It’s gonna be six figures for sure by the time you fix it and it’s out of service and things like that. And not saying that that couldn’t have happened any other time, but for that wreck, that’s what it was.” Rice rounded up the repairing costs to a whopping $100,000, double of what NASCAR charged Cendric. However, Rice and his team is still waiting to hear from NASCAR which seems to have turned the page over. But the No. 2 certainly learned his lesson.

Acknowledging NASCAR’s punishment for his reckless act, Austin Cindric apologized saying, “Look it’s not up to me to decide, you know, what penalties are or aren’t. That’s up to NASCAR so… You definitely have to accept and work hard to make it up from. I got forced into the runoff, forced off the track and, yeah I just handled myself poorly in the face of adversity, and obviously penalized for it. I mean, I think at the end of the day, the data points that NASCAR has, and the experience they have in making those calls…. That’s not really up for me to decide. I think as competitors, you absorb each case and learn from it or in my case, learn from my own personal experience.”

Already, this has been a miserable season starter for the 26-year-old. A week prior to this incident, he was taken out of the podium finish in a massive wreck. The event unfolded when Kyle Larson spun him, and triggered the Big One. But, not letting his rage consume him, Austin Cindric handed a card over to Hendrick Motorsports officials to schedule a connect with the culprit, and clear the air. Walking out of the incident, Cindric had a clear mind.

Maybe, like attracts like. What he and Larson experienced together was given back to Ty Dillon when it was his time. But this season has not been too kind to the Richard Childress camp either, with each top driver getting slumped off their path to finishes in the same race.

A mixed day in the office for Richard Childress

First and foremost, it was Ty Dillon’s incident that saw him end up in 28th. Meanwhile, his own driver and Ty’s older brother Austin Dillon, got taken out of the race by Denny Hamlin in the same race later. The latter lost control of his car, sliding, then crashing into the #3 driver. This caused the elder Dillon to get stuck in the gravel. He tried to help himself out of it, but got beached.

As a consequence, he had to wait for NASCAR officials to intervene. At that time, the other Richard Childress racer, Kyle Busch was leading the race. But despite all the signs of him finally breaking his almost 2-year-long losing streak, things did not work out.

Turns out, the caution for the Dillon-Hamlin incident created more problems for #8 driver. Post caution, the field had bunched up again. Unfortunately, Kyle Busch was the first of the leaders to pit, and William Byron and Christopher Bell were on fresher tires. Still, the veteran driver gave it a good go and defended like a demon from Bell.

Unfortunately, Bell finally got the move done, and from that point onwards Kyle Busch was helpless. William Byron and Tyler Reddick soon made short work of the struggling #8 Chevy driver. At that point, the key was to survive the onslaught and how far Busch would plummet down the order. Fortunately, the only other driver who overtook him, was Chase Elliott, and Busch ended the race in 5th place.

Let’s hope to see changed fortunes at the Phoenix Raceway for the racers.