People can hate on Austin Dillon all they want for what he did on the last NASCAR Cup Series lap at Richmond Raceway last weekend, but the reality is that no one can really blame him for it.
In similar situations, many who have bashed the Richard Childress Racing driver would’ve done the exact same thing — or maybe even worse. Dillon was attempting to not only save his season by throwing up a Hail Mary to make the playoffs but also earn his race team roughly $2 million.
Denny Hamlin said on his podcast Actions Detrimental that the difference between finishing 16th in Cup points and 32nd is about $2 million. What would you do if you could make that kind of dough for the team and the men and women who work endless hours to get you out on the racetrack every week?
Dillon has been made out to be the villain when he is really a victim of the system. The win-and-you’re-in playoff format is what made the whole scenario happen, and that’s why its era needs to come to a close.
Prior to the current playoff format, started in 2014, Dillon would’ve accepted second place on the night after Joey Logano beat him on the final restart. Or maybe he still sends it into the corner to spin Logano, but I can’t imagine him right-rearing Hamlin after that.
But the ultra-aggressive driving isn’t even the worst thing that could’ve come out of Richmond. Had NASCAR not ruled that the win wouldn’t give Dillon playoff eligibility, a driver currently 31st in points would be able to compete for a championship.
Plus, Dillon is solid at the drafting tracks. He could’ve hypothetically won at Atlanta Motor Speedway in the first round and Talladega Superspeedway in the second round. Then, a driver who was outside the top 30 in points would be in the Round of 8. He was just super fast at Richmond — perhaps the speed carries over to Martinsville Speedway and Phoenix Raceway and Dillon is your 2024 Cup champion.
People think letting someone wrecking two people to make the playoffs would hurt NASCAR’s integrity? The scenario I just described would annihilate every ounce of integrity the series has. NASCAR would be the joke of the sports world.
That’s why the premise of win-and-you’re-in is so ridiculous. Can you imagine Major League Baseball telling the historically bad Chicago White Sox, which is 29-93 so far this season, that if the team wins a game at any point next week, it gets a spot in the playoffs? MLB fans would…
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