Richmond Renaissance: NASCAR insiders back Austin Dillon chances without ‘losing his mind’

Nearly one year ago, Austin Dillon had a career day at Richmond Raceway. Dillon took the checkered flag but as you might recall, the way he won that race was controversial to say the least.

Dillon aggressively dove into the corner in Turns 3 and 4 on the final lap, wiping out Joey Logano. He then hooked Denny Hamlin in the right rear. NASCAR determined Dillon crossed the line, revoking his playoff eligibility and docking him 25 points. In 11 days, Dillon returns to Richmond in the same situation, needing a win to clinch his spot in the Cup Series playoffs. After a 10th-place finish in Sunday’s race at Iowa Speedway, Jeff Gluck of The Athletic sees an opportunity for Dillon to repeat at Richmond.

“He wasn’t there all day, but Austin Dillon made a little bit of noise today,” Gluck said on The Teardown podcast. “[He] showed enough to me that you could say, ‘Hey remember Richmond?’ Remember with that Richmond race, he was going to win that straight up until that late caution and then he lost his mind going for the win. But he was going to have this career, unbelievable day out of nowhere.”

Can Austin Dillon repeat at Richmond?

Gluck and his Teardown co-host Jordan Bianchi both believe that Richmond could yield an upset winner. Could that be Dillon for the second consecutive year?

“I agree with you on Austin Dillon,” Bianchi said. “It’s on my list of again, Richmond is comparable to Iowa, and they’re so fast today, look out for them in a couple weeks.”

Dillon getting to Victory Lane would be a surprise outcome, as it was last year. This time around, he sits 28th in the points standings as Richard Childress Racing has struggled to bring fast racecars off the hauler. But if not for a late caution and the events that followed, Dillon was on track to win straight up at Richmond last year. Dillon is certainly confident after a solid day at Iowa.

“Top 10 for our Chevrolet,” Dillon said after the race. “That feels like a win with the way things have been going. We had a really fast car today. Cautions did not go our way. I feel like we have a top-five car for sure if things had played out a bit differently. It was a blast out there and felt good to race up front with those guys and be in contention.”