The Martinsville controversy is arguably one of the biggest cases of race manipulation in NASCAR’s history. In the eliminator, William Byron and Christopher Bell had locked horns for a spot in the championship 4. Towards the final laps, Byron was leading by only a single point over the #20. A position loss would have meant game over for the HMS team as well as for Chevrolet. However, trailing behind him were his Chevy colleagues, Ross Chastain and Austin Dillon, who made sure not to let anyone pass Byron.

Post the race, the radio conversations also revealed that the #1 and #3 in a coordinating effort had caused a blockade. NASCAR is not known to take such incidents lightly and has issued penalties to all the culprits. However, amid all this, after everything is clearly heard on the radio, Richard Childress’s grandson has finally broken silence on the matter, denying it to be race manipulation. And fans aren’t buying one word of his justification!

Austin Dillon blames his dialect for being mistaken as race manipulation

Recently NASCAR ruled on the matter, issuing penalties. Both #3 and #1 teams have been fined $100,000 and docked 50 points from their season. Along with this, even the teams have to pay a $100,000 fine and NASCAR has also suspended their crew chiefs, spotters, and race executives for the upcoming season finale. Also involved in race manipulation was Bubba Wallace, getting the same penalty as the Chevy drivers. Wallace, on the final stretch of the race, suddenly slowed down to let Bell pass, aiding his Toyota teammate to draw the points gap.

A draw meant that Bell progressed since, according to the NASCAR rule, the driver with a better finish in any of the round three races would progress, and Bell’s P2 in Las Vegas bested Byron’s P6 there. However, in the end, Bell was eliminated since he tried to pull a ‘Hail Melon 2.0’ to the finish. And now while we are shifting focus to the championship weekend in Phoenix, Austin Dillon has come out with an explanation denying all accusations.

Austin Dillon, in a conversation with Fox Sports’ Bob Pockrass, said, “I think I need to clear up one thing with a ‘deal’ was Ross knows what the situation is and what William’s racing for. That needs to be cleared out. There were no other ties than that. It was just the situation, I’m the country boy, and that’s the fast way for me to say ‘situation’ is ‘deal’. I just knew that he was coming fast and I didn’t want to get in that because I was going to be an asshole if I passed him or didn’t.”

The ‘deal’ that he is referring to is the incriminating racing audio that surfaced after the incident. While the #3 and #1 were blocking for Byron, Crew chief Justin Alexander explained to Dillon, “If we pass him (Byron), he’ll be out.” This is clearly him instructing Dillon to stay behind. However, what made things clearer was the conversation between Alexander and their spotter, Brandon Benesch. Chastain, with the last 12 laps to go, came too close to Dillon and what seemed like a move to pass Byron; this is when Benech said, “Does the 1 crew chief know the deal?” Alexander replied, “Yeah he should.” This clearly indicates race manipulation and coordination between the two teams.

If you see the race footage, there were many moments when Dillon could have passed Byron, but he didn’t. According to the RCR driver, this wasn’t deliberate but part of his strategy. “Another thing in the back of my mind, passing someone, you’ve got to know what their risk level is, what is the gun held at their head at that point. William’s in a position where he’s got one-point shot to go to Phoenix. I know what I did to win a race. So If I pass him and he dumps me, and I ruin my first top ten in five-six weeks, then I’m content in where I’m at right there. That’s a great run for us in the position that we are. What is the gain in that for me? Putting myself in predicament to once again having another bad day. It’s just that there’s a lot you have to be thinking on in that situation,” Austin Dillon added.

The North Carolina native is surprisingly using his own actions at Richmond to explain why he did not pass the #24 car. In Richmond, Dillon wrecked Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin as they tried to pass him when he was set to take the checkered flag. Well, whatever reason Dillon might have had, true or made up, fans aren’t buying any of it.

Fans accuse Austin Dillon of trying to cover his tracks

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What Austin Dillon is trying to say isn’t matching with what fans saw in the race. After the ‘deal’ discussion on the radio, the #1 and #3 ran literally side by side to the finish. Neither one trying to pass William Byron! This has fans strengthened their belief in the two committing race manipulation. One fan on this wrote, “Yeah because you two drove perfectly side-by-side for 10 laps…” Another fan echoing the same emotion said, “Does he not know we heard the Radio communication.”

This is because Dillon’s justification contradicts the publicly available radio conversation from the Martinsville race. And the same was the case on Chastain’s radio. His spotter, Brandon McReynolds, kept Chastain informed of the points situation between Byron and Bell. However, there was a moment when the Trackhouse driver tried to go to the outside of Byron with seven laps to go. This was when his spotter quickly said, “Nice and smart with the 24 here down there.” It might be more subtle than Dillon’s spotter, but the plan seemed to be the same for both teams.

Fans are accusing Dillon of lying through his teeth with taking sarcastic jibes at him. While one fan compared him to a diplomatic politician, “He’d make a good politician. But sorry, we saw how slow Willy B was. You and Ross would’ve passed him and drove away and then Kes and Logano would’ve passed him too.” Another one called him Pinocchio, “I’m glad that camera isn’t too close, his nose growing would break the lens.” Pinocchio is a beloved children’s storybook character whose nose grows in size if he lies.

This incident has many wondering if the current playoff format is compromising the integrity of the sport. Some have even suggested NASCAR roll back to the previous one. According to some fans, drivers are ready to do anything and everything needed to progress. One fan on this said, “Dillon is a perfect example of why playoffs shouldn’t exist in racing. In the headlines for the wrong reasons twice this year.” Dillon’s Richmond incident is perhaps why fans are probably hell-bent on not believing a word he’s saying.

What do you think of Dillon’s explanation? Do you believe him? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.