Roger Diez: Austin Dillon put a target on his back

NASCAR specified an option tire for Sunday’s Cook Out 400 at Richmond. It was the first time for the rule since a test run at the All-Star race in May. The red-lettered tire was demonstrably faster as Daniel Suarez drove through the field early on to take the lead.

The race ran green until lap 398 when Ryan Preece and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. tangled, leading to mass pit stops for the final set of option tires. Joey Logano got a good restart and took the white flag in the lead when Austin Dillon apparently forgot what sport he was playing and used his car for a bowling ball. Dillon smashed into Joey from behind and then sideswiped Denny Hamlin like he was picking up a 7-10 split and took the win.

It was one of the most egregious cases of dirty driving I have seen in my 50-plus years in the sport and would have resulted in immediate severe penalties in any other professional racing series. And it’s not the first time. Dillon took the 2018 Daytona 500 from Aric Almirola by wrecking the other driver.

Dillon had better watch his back for the rest of the season, as he is in Logano’s sights. Joey called the move chicken excrement in a post-race interview, but his post-race move that sent the No. 3 crew scattering in the pit lane cost him a $50,000 fine for “compromising the safety of others.”

•••

Thinking back, I remember a precedent for taking away a win for rough driving. I was at Sears Point 1991 when NASCAR gave Ricky Rudd the black flag instead of the checker after he dumped Davy Allison in turn 11 coming to the white flag. Rudd’s transgression wasn’t nearly as blatant as what Dillon did to Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin at Richmond last Sunday, but last Sunday there was no time for the flagman to grab the black flag.

NASCAR finally weighed in on Wednesday with a Solomon-like decision to let Dillon keep the win but not the playoff berth. The team was also docked 25 driver and owner points, dropping the No. 3 Childress Chevy to 31st in the standings. The Childress team is appealing the penalties.

•••

This week the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity series race at Michigan International Speedway, a fast two-mile oval where the Xfinity cars will race for 250 miles and the Cup cars for 400. Logano and Kyle Larson are the winningest active drivers at Michigan with three victories each. Hamlin has two wins while Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney, and 2023 winner Chris Buescher have one apiece.

The Cup cars will qualify Saturday at 10:20 a.m. with the Cabo Wabo 250 airing at 12:30, both on the USA network. Sunday’s Firekeepers Casino 400 will also air on USA at 11:30 a.m.

•••

The NTT IndyCar series is back from a three-week layoff with a twilight race at World Wide Technology Raceway east of St. Louis, the Bommarito Automotive Group 500. The track is a 1.25 mile asymmetrical oval where Team Penske driver Will Power set an all-time fast lap at 189.709 mph in 2017. His teammate Josef Newgarden won that year, the first of four victories there. Power won in 2018, and Scott Dixon of Chip Ganassi Racing has won twice, including in 2023.

There are just four more races in the 2024 season after this one, and Chip Ganassi Racing driver Alex Palou is sitting on a 49-point lead in the championship standings with 411. Power is second with Dixon third and Newgarden a distant eighth with 266 points.

Race coverage begins at 3 p.m. Saturday on USA and Peacock.