Richard Childress still feels wronged about everything imposed on his team after the summer race at Richmond Raceway last year.
Combined with another penalty issued against his team for what happened in the playoff race at Martinsville, everything just left him with a bitter feeling.
His grandson, veteran driver Austin Dillon, won that race at Richmond but it took crashing both Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin in the final corner with two different moves to do it. Then, at Martinsville, Dillon and Ross Chastain effectively set up a blockade under orders from Chevrolet to prevent anyone from passing William Byron, who ultimately raced his way into the playoffs.
After Richmond, NASCAR stripped Dillon of the playoff berth usually attached to winning a race and issued another 25 point penalty on top of that. Dillon would have finished no worse than 16th in the final championship standings as a playoff driver but instead finished 32nd.
This is a difference in millions of dollars when considered the championship fund and marketing focus the playoff drivers receive the final 10 weeks. Dillon and Richard Childress Racing were also both fined $200,000 each for the race manipulation that was determined to have taken place at Martinsville.
Speaking to Dale Earnhardt Jr. on his Dale Jr Download podcast, Childress says he’s having a hard time accepting that still.
“The whole thing, that deal [Martinsville], and Richmond cost us over $3 million,” Childress explained. “It isn’t always about the money but … it’s real money. But those two things, and I’ll never get over Richmond.
“Of all the things that’s happened in our career, the Richmond race I’ll never get over that one. Because I’ve seen it happen so many times, so many times I’ve seen those things happen. And the same two guys [Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin] involved in it is the same two culprits, but it came down to who had the most power who could get in NASCAR’s ear the hardest and they came down on us the hardest. It just disappoints me.”
