NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin says what Austin Dillon did on the final lap at Richmond is simply a byproduct of the modern championship format but that the sanctioning body got it right with Wednesday’s penalty report.
Dillon, well outside of a playoff transfer spot on championship points could only advance into the playoffs with a victory, and dominated the second half of the Cook Out 400. But a caution with two laps to go set up an overtime finish in which Joey Logano took the lead.
Dillon came from over four car lengths back to drive right through Logano’s Team Penske No. 22 in Turn 3 and then turned hard left into Denny Hamlin, right rear hooking the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 into the wall, all in the name of getting to the finish line first.
NASCAR ultimately chose to strip Dillon of the automatic advancement into the playoffs.
Martin shared his thoughts on Thursday’s episode of the Dale Jr Download Reloaded.
“I think that’s fair,” Martin said. “I don’t envy NASCAR at all. Really, honestly, they were put in a position of no win. I think their decision is fair but it’s difficult. It’s really a difficult situation and I felt bad for NASCAR to be put in that situation.”
The absurdity of what Dillon did overwhelmed Martin, one of NASCAR’s modern all-time greats.
“I can come at this from a couple different angles,” Martin said. “The first angle is straight up fan. I was sitting watching the race by myself and I laughed out loud. It was so outrageous that I laughed. It takes balls to do what Austin Dillon did. But it is largely due to the format. I mean, this all started — I’m a purist, I’m a racer, I’m a purist. I grew up in an era where respect and honor and dignity were everything. And that was paramount. The racers taught me to race with that and they raced me back with that. It served me well and I tried to always do the right thing, the right thing by my fans and everything else.
“But it’s a different day and age. I terribly disagreed with the double-file restart. Why did they do that? They did that to take the advantage away from the guy who was gonna win the race. They did that to appease the fans and television. And the Green-White-Checkered as well. I was not a fan of that when it came. But it’s done to appease television and the masses. Now, there’s some that don’t like it and there’s some that do, and everyone’s entitled to their own opinion. I’m kind of riding the fence, I’m a fan. I still love NASCAR, and I still watch it, but it is dang sure different than it was when I was growing up. I’m not gonna bash it because it’s what we have now.
“I just really think that this is the day and age that we’re in. You’re gonna have a lot of bump and runs and contact. It’s all generated by winner takes all, win and you’re in — nothing else matters. In Austin Dillon’s case, it really didn’t except that NASCAR deemed that he stepped over the line. But he didn’t know that when he made the move. I view this as a big event in our sport. Not quite as big as the hail melon by [Ross] Chastain, but it’s pretty huge. It has generated a lot of attention and a lot of stir. When you get stir, even negative stir is stir. … This has been a shot in the arm in one way, but in the other way, it’s kind of a black eye as well.”