Cook Out 400: Austin Dillon scores dramatic Richmond win, loses playoff eligibility

RICHMOND, Va. — Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon shocked the NASCAR world in Sunday night’s Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway as the driver of the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet wrecked Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin to initially clinch a spot in the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs.

A few days later, NASCAR officials ruled that Dillon would keep the win, but it would not count toward making the playoffs. Dillon and the No. 3 team were also docked 25 driver and owner points.

If Dillon wants to make the postseason now, he will have to win one of the final three races of the regular season.

Dillon had the fastest car on the track during the latter part of the race and almost had the race taken away from him as Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Ryan Preece brought out a late-race caution to send the race into overtime. However, Dillon showed that he was willing to do whatever it took to make the postseason, after entering Richmond 32nd in points.

“I hate to do that, but sometimes you just gotta have it,” Dillon said. “I’d like to thank the good lord above. It’s been tough over the last two years man, and I care about RCR, and these fans, my wife, and this is my first with my baby girl and it means a lot.”

Logano, who was leading into the final corner, did not mince his words after the race, after saying that Dillon “sucks” and that he has “sucked his whole career.”

The driver of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford went from first to 19th after Dillon made the controversial move.

“It’s chicken shit, there’s no doubt about it,” Logano said. “He’s four car-lengths back, not even close, and then he goes and wrecks the 11 (Hamlin) to go along with it. Then he’s gonna go up there and thank God and praise everything with his baby, it’s a bunch of B.S. it’s not even freaking close.”

Hamlin was in prime position to win after Dillon wrecked Logano, but got hooked in the right rear and wound up finishing second as NASCAR threw the caution immediately after he was spun. He was also not happy with Dillon.

“It’s obviously foul, but it is fair in NASCAR,” Hamlin said. “It is a different league. There are no penalties for rough driving or anything like that, so it opens up the opportunity for Austin (Dillon) to just do whatever he wants. The problem that I have is I got hooked in the right rear again. I’m just minding my own business, and he turned left, and he hooked me in the right rear and blew my damn shoulder out. I don’t know. The record book won’t care about what happened. He is going to be credited with a win. He is just not going to go far because you have to pay your dues back on stuff like that, but it is worth it because they jumped 20 positions in points, so I understand all that.

“Absolutely, a line was crossed, but it is an invisible line, and it is not defined,” Hamlin added. “They have rules and provisions for stuff like this, but they never take action for it. What happens is you see young guys coming up in the short track ranks, seeing that, and they think it is fine. That is why we see some of the lower series turn out the way they do in these green-white-checkered situations because some of the best that they are seeing on Sunday do stuff like that. Who am I to throw stones at a glass house, but I’ve certainly never won one that way.”

Editor’s Note: Following NASCAR’s decision to revoke Dillon’s ability to use his Richmond win toward playoff eligibility, the article has been updated to reflect the changes.

Results from the 2024 Cook Out 400 are listed below:

Other Race Facts

Many drivers showed their displeasure with Dillon’s moves in their post-race interviews, including 23XI Racing teammates Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace, who finished in third and fourth.

“Yeah, Joey (Logano) stole the words right from me,” Reddick said. “That’s exactly what that move is. Unbelievable. I understand the first one, I guess, on Joey, trying to win the race. I’ve been threatened to be suspended for right-hooking people and they’ve always taken a pretty hard stand on that. I don’t know. Racing hard for the win is one thing. Just plainly right hooking somebody is another. That sounds pretty biased coming from me about my boss, but if I was in his spot, I would be pretty upset about it too.”

Wallace also called Dillon’s move “chicken shit” during his television interview.

“We knew we had to work coming in here, obviously being below and our team did just that,” Wallace said. “We fought hard. We did not have the best day on pit road. Not from a lack of effort. I appreciate them getting better all night. They showed up when it mattered on the last stop – kept us in it. I appreciate the effort from my team. Nice to walk out of here with a top-five finish. We have a long way to go. We just have to keep fighting. I guess you can dump somebody and right-rear somebody and be okay. It’s funny how that works.”

Dillon’s spotter Brandon Benesch was heard on the No. 3 team radio saying, “I don’t care how you do it” before he hit Logano and then “Wreck him! Wreck him!” before he hooked Hamlin.

Despite this video evidence, team owner Richard Childress initially denied this happened and told reporter Matt Weaver and others in the media center that “you can’t believe everything you hear on the internet.”

NASCAR officials ended up suspending Benesch for the next three Cup races.

Here is the radio audio and video:

Dillon became the seventh driver to end a winless streak of 40 races or more in 2024, which is tied for most ever in a NASCAR Cup Series season, according to statistician Trey Ryan.

Daniel Suárez’s 93 laps led are the most he’s ever led in a Cup Series race. This race was the first points-paying race where teams were allowed to choose between an option tire and a prime tire. Strategy using these tires helped Suárez have a great day.

Christopher Bell is the first driver in NASCAR to accumulate double-digit stage wins in a single season.

The 2024 Cup Series regular season only has three races remaining with three playoff spots up for grabs. Despite finishing last, Martin Truex Jr. remains 14th, Ty Gibbs falls to 15th and yet another impressive weekend helps Wallace jump ahead of both Chris Buescher and Ross Chastain to take the 16th spot by just three points.

GRID Ranking

The official ranking includes drivers that participate in seven racing series (NASCAR, IndyCar, Formula 1, Formula E, World Rally Championship, Repco Supercars, MotoGP), and each driver earns GRID Ratings, which help determine their seeding in the GRID Ranking.

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