Richard Childress said Austin Cindric wrecked Austin Dillon on purpose at WWT Raceway
On Sunday, NASCAR raced at WWT Raceway. Austin Dillon and Austin Cindric fought for space into turn one, it ended with Cindric hooking Dillon in the right rear.
Hear from Austin Cindric and NASCAR below.
Cindric was moving down the track as Dillon was coming up. They were in a three-wide battle at the time of the incident.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr was to the right of them at the time of the incident. However, there was a significant gap between Cindric and Stenhouse Jr.
After the race, Austin Dillon’s car owner and grandpa said the incident was intentional.
Childress stated, “Austin’s had some really good runs, he drove up to 10th until the No. 2 car wrecked him on purpose, sort of a payback.”
Full comments from Richard Childress
Recent NASCAR penalties for contact
Just last week, NASCAR issued a 1-race suspension to Chase Elliott for intentionally wrecking Denny Hamlin. Elliott hooked Hamlin in the right rear at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Chase Elliott suspended by NASCAR for wrecking Denny Hamlin
Earlier in the season, Denny Hamlin put Ross Chastain in the wall during the closing laps of the race at Phoenix Raceway. He admitted it on his podcast and NASCAR then reacted by issuing a $50,000 fine.
Denny Hamlin admits retaliation on Ross Chastain at Phoenix (Video)
Last year, Bubba Wallace was suspended after hooking Kyle Larson in the right rear. The retaliation brought a 1-race suspension.
Bubba Wallace suspended by NASCAR after wrecking Kyle Larson
Austin Cindric defends himself; Claims it wasn’t intentional
On Tuesday, Cindric took to social media to share his view of the incident…
“I am not a fan of the idea of taking to social media to deal with on-track issues, but it has become clear to me that my voice and input is needed for this discussion to come to an end.”
“Did AD [Austin Dillon] and I make contact? Yes.”
“was that contact intentional? Absolutely Not.”
“The data is pretty cut and dry, but I’ve provided it since it has yet to surface from the start of these accusations.”
“I follow the draft from the 24 car the length of the frontstraight to make it three wide, trapping the 3 car on the bottom, which I viewed as an advantage for me by the time we would get to the exit of Turn 2.”
“The 3 comes up to get his arch for the corner, tries to fill the gap, and is not clear. All happening right at the braking point for the corner.”
“I actually start to roll out of the throttle as I recognize the 3 car is trying to full the gap. My steering angle does not shift to the left until we make contact. Not exactly the type of behavior you’d expect from someone trying to catch and hook another car.”
Austin Cindric has reached out to Austin Dillon
“Safety is a very important topic and one that is taken very seriously in our industry. Reviewing the data, at no point do I see any neglect toward the safety of others on the racetrack from any drivers involved in this incident, myself included.”
“Objectively, I cannot see how intent or, if I’m being honest, full responsibility can be placed on me here, especially racing hard for position at the end of the race.”
“As a professional, I do not enjoy having my character in question when it is not justified. We are expected to race hard and I will not apologize for doing so, but I will be the first person to raise my hand and listen when I’ve done something wrong.”
“I’ve reached out to Austin so the two of us can discuss our differences as professionals. Once I hear back from him, that can happen.”
NASCAR comments on the incident
SMT data was down, during the event due to a technical issue off-site. However, that data was able to be viewed after the race. NASCAR has reviewed data including video on the incident.
“We didn’t have SMT data live but it was still being recorded in the background. It was stored, now the race teams have it and we have it as well,” Elton Sawyer stated via Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.
“We didn’t see anything — and haven’t seen anything — that really would rise to a level that would be a suspension or a penalty.”
“It looked like hard racing. One car coming up a little bit and another car going down.”
“We take these incidents, very serious when we cars that are turned head on into another car or the wall. We spent a lot of time looking at this and just deemed it as really hard racing.”
Sawyer concluded, “We are going to have conversations with the two Austin’s to make sure we’re all in a good place as we move forward.”
WWT Raceway Results: June 4, 2023 (NASCAR Cup Series)
