Leaders wreck on final lap in crazy NASCAR finish
from Samuel Stubbs, with YardBarker.com/www.yardbarker.com
Short-track racing always seems to lead to some tempers.
On Sunday night in Richmond, both Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin have good reason to let their tempers show.
On the last lap of Sunday’s Cook Out 400, Logano held the race lead over Austin Dillon. Dillon, needing a win to make the NASCAR playoffs, drove into Turn 3 as hard as he could.
What happened next was a finish that will undoubtedly go down in NASCAR history, but not for a good reason.
After spinning Logano’s Ford Mustang into the outside wall, Hamlin was coming quick on the bottom of the track. Rather than race Hamlin side-by-side to the line, however, Dillon hooked the No. 11, sending Hamlin hard into the outside wall and paving a way forward for Dillon to take the victory.
Logano was obviously upset in his post-race interview, calling Dillon’s move “BS”. Hamlin, meanwhile, took a calmer approach, but was still frustrated after the close loss.
Dillon’s win is the fifth of his Cup Series career and his first since the 2022 Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona. Sunday isn’t the first time Dillon has wrecked a fellow driver to earn a win, either, as he turned Aric Almirola on the final lap of the 2018 Daytona 500 to win the Great American Race.
The Cup Series’ next race will be next Sunday at Michigan.