Is it a racing or a wrecking series?

Anyone who loves NASCAR knows the quote: “He didn’t slam you, he didn’t bump you, he didn’t nudge you… he rubbed you. And rubbin’, son, is racin’”

Actor Robert Duvall uttered those immortal words, playing the fictional crew chief Harry Hogge (who we all know was the real-life Harry Hyde), in the NASCAR movie Days of Thunder. And maybe it was just coincidence that film’s other star, Tom Cruise, jumped off the roof of the Stade de France in the Olympic closing ceremony just hours earlier, because something was definitely ‘in the air’ for that final restart in Richmond on Sunday night.

Modern-day NASCAR has always been about the show as much as the sport, and this was one of those occasions where the two butted heads. A late yellow looked to have cost Austin Dillon a vital Cup race win, and a prized spot in the playoffs, as Joey Logano drove around the outside of him to take the lead in the overtime restart. “If he gets to him, there will be contact,” said NBC’s driver analyst Jeff Buton.

And it came to pass, well, spin in Logano’s case, as Dillon waited until he’d turned in to Turn 3 to ram his rear bumper and send him rotating into the wall. Now, Logano has absolutely pulled so-called ‘bump-and-run’ moves in his career and is no shrinking violet. Although this was more of a ‘bump-and-fence’, as he spun into the Turn 4 wall, this was within that “rubbin’ is racin’” mantra.

But what happened next really asked the question if Dillon went beyond line of what’s acceptable. Just like Burton, the following Denny Hamlin had foreseen what was coming, so he backed up his entry to make sure he’d get a great exit on the low line to snatch the win. With his spotter screaming “down, down, down, run him down, wreck him!” Dillon had other ideas, and yanked his wheel hard left to hook Hamlin’s right-rear quarter panel, which sent his second victim into the fence.

From there, Dillon just beat Tyler Reddick to the line – who gave him a rear-end slam of his own after the checkers, having seen Austin just wreck his team boss.

Let’s get one thing straight: The crowd on site loved it. Even though Hamlin is a Virginia native, he’s become something of a villain recently for myriad reasons. Logano, too, is someone who’s never been backwards in dishing out some on-track rough-housing.

While racing purists took to their social media channels of choice to clutch their pearls, the majority of NASCAR fans in the house were whooping and hollering their approval of the whole drama.

Seeing the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet barge its way to victory surely gave them Dale Earnhardt Sr. vibes – as ‘The Intimidator’ was renowned for his uncompromising racing style. And this, surely, was the epitome of that – freakishly mirroring a clash between Dale Sr. and Darrell Waltrip here in 1986.

What also made for great TV were the interviews that came next, with Logano branding Dillon’s move “chickenshit” and going on to add: “He’s a piece of crap. He sucks. He’s sucked his whole career and now he’s going to be in the playoffs. Good for him, I guess.”

So, as far as the show goes, it was a massive win for NASCAR. But…

“We’re never, ever gonna get taken seriously as a sport”

Hamlin makes a great point that NASCAR’s lack of officiating of its drivers means that the show versus sport ratio is very much tilted in favor of ‘the show’. Its approach is very much “have at it” until it crosses an undefined line of conduct.

Now, one line that has been marked recently is the deliberate hooking of rivals. NASCAR has set a precedent that such moves will be penalized: Chase Elliott was suspended for one race after hooking Hamlin into the outside wall during the 2023 Coke 600, and Bubba Wallace was parked for a similar move on Kyle Larson the year before.

Hamlin, who’s become one of the sport’s most outspoken drivers in recent years, pointed out: “We’re trying to manufacture these types of moments and when we do it and we look silly like tonight… your sport has mud on its face. But I think there’s probably people in Daytona [where NASCAR’s headquarters are located] who love this shit and they’re the ones who are sending this sport backwards.”

He also pointed out that this sets a bad example for young drivers coming up through stock car racing’s ranks, as well as the grass roots series across the country.

In my mind, it was Logano’s crew chief, the usually mild-mannered Paul Wolfe, put it best when he told SiriusXM: “It’s as far from racing as you can get. It’s really disappointing that NASCAR allows stuff like that to go on. That wasn’t a racing incident, anyone can see that.

“I guess what I’m asking NASCAR is what have we gotten to? Is this not racing anymore? When we lose sight of that, I don’t know what we’re doing anymore…

“This is up to NASCAR to do the right thing. At some point we’re going to have to make the call as to what’s acceptable or not. Just flat-out wrecking someone, that’s not racing.

“So, if we’re not a racing series, what are we?”

Going back to that Dale Sr. clash with Waltrip at Richmond in ’86, which happened with three laps to go and caused a multi-car pileup, Earnhardt was fined $5,000 by NASCAR and placed on probation for the rest of the season.

Bill Gazaway, NASCAR’s vice-president of competition back in the day, explained: “There is a fine line between hard racing and reckless driving, and Earnhardt clearly stepped over that line Sunday. We simply cannot tolerate or condone such actions. We must preserve the integrity of our sport.”

Here’s what his current counterpart, Elton Sawyer, had to say about Sunday’s incident…

Conclusion

NASCAR’s approach of favoring show over sport is always going to lead to moments of high drama like this – because that’s literally what it wants these days! This was a make-or-break victory for Dillon’s season, his team and his sponsors. Not making the playoffs instantly puts your standing, even your career, in question.

Engineering titles decided via playoffs leads to a plethora of must-win scenarios that create storylines for its fans – and in some ways this is totally genius, especially in a 36-race season – but this creates incendiary moments that threaten the sport’s legitimacy and meritocracy.

Do I think Austin Dillon keeps his win when the Richmond penalties drop on Tuesday? 100%.

Will he get parked for a race? I doubt it, I think they’ll consider that Richmond’s short track status mitigates any risk of endangering a rival driver, and that it was a split-second reaction on a last-corner deal.

Might Dillon get a fine or points deduction for a combination of hooking Hamlin and that “wreck him!” radio instruction? Yeah, I’d think they might do something, maybe his spotter will get his hard card pulled for a while… Although it was a short track, hearing Hamlin say the impact “blew my damn shoulder out” shows that hooking should carry some kind of sanction and carries a risk at all tracks.

But will Dillon’s No.3, with its ‘HUNTING SALE’ livery, sell-out as a diecast when it’s released? And will more TV viewers be tuning in to see if Logano and Hamlin exact revenge in Michigan next weekend? Hell yeah! Just like Ross Chastain’s ‘Hail Melon’ move at Martinsville, this one will be replayed again and again.

From NASCAR’s point of view, this is so good for business. On some days, the sport really does come second.