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Dillon spins Logano on final lap, prevails in overtime at Richmond for first victory in 2 years

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Dillon spins Logano on final lap, prevails in overtime at Richmond for first victory in 2 years
Sport

Sport

Dillon spins Logano on final lap, prevails in overtime at Richmond for first victory in 2 years

2024-08-12 13:40 Last Updated At:13:51

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Desperate to win for the first time in nearly two years — and with the race suddenly slipping away — Austin Dillon sent two cars into the wall in rapid succession.

The result was a season-changing victory, an avalanche of controversy and at least two veteran drivers who were absolutely furious.

“I hate to do that, but sometimes you just got to have it,” Dillon said.

Dillon raced and bumped his way to victory Sunday night, sending Joey Logano into a spin on the final lap to win in overtime at Richmond. It was his first win since Aug. 28, 2022, at Daytona. He had just two top-10 finishes this year and entered the race ranked 32nd in the standings. Now he's on track for the playoffs — but he didn't get there gently.

Dillon appeared to be cruising to a victory when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Ryan Preece collided, forcing the first caution of the entire 400-lap, 300-mile race aside from the prescheduled ones after the ends of the first two stages.

So the drivers went to overtime, and Logano clearly got the better of Dillon on the restart. Then Dillon came up directly behind Logano and spun him.

“It’s ridiculous that that’s the way we race. Unbelievable,” Logano said. “I get bump and runs. I do that. I would expect it. But from four car lengths back, he was never going to make the corner. And then he wrecks the other car. He wrecks the 11 to go with it. What a piece of crap.”

The 11 was Denny Hamlin, who appeared to be moving past Dillon on the inside after Dillon bumped Logano's No. 22 car. Then Dillon hit the back right part of Hamlin's car and put him into the wall, too.

“He’s going to be credited with the win, but obviously he’s just not going to go far,” Hamlin said. “You’ve got to pay your dues back on stuff like that. But it’s worth it, because they jump 20 positions in points. So I understand all that. There’s no ill will there. I get it. I just hate I was a part of it. It would have been fun if I was not one of the two guys that got taken out on the last corner.”

Dillon emerged from all the chaos with a victory in his No. 3 Chevrolet. That number was famously driven — often aggressively — by Dale Earnhardt. But times have changed since Earnhardt's heyday, and Elton Sawyer, NASCAR's senior vice president of competition, made it clear the end of this race would be looked at.

“In my view, that's getting really close to crossing the line,” Sawyer said.

Actually vacating the victory, however, would be an extraordinary step.

“Historically, that hasn't been our DNA to take races away, but that's not to say that going forward this wouldn't start to set a precedent,” Sawyer said. “We'd have to look at it.”

Dillon appeared on his way to a much less controversial win after passing Hamlin for the lead with 29 laps to go. But then the Stenhouse-Preece crash and subsequent restart left Dillon in danger of an agonizing defeat.

Dillon said he was trying to move Logano's car, but hitting Hamlin as well was more of an instant reaction.

“I've seen Denny and Joey make moves that have been running people up the track to win,” Dillon said. “This was the first opportunity in two years for me to be able to get a win. ... I've seen a lot of stuff over the years in NASCAR where people move people, and it's just part of our sport.”

Owner Richard Childress, Dillon's grandfather, expressed a similar sentiment. Childress was also asked about possible audio of Dillon being told to wreck another driver during the frantic finish.

“I didn’t hear him, and I was on the radio with him. We’ll see," Childress said. “If he did, he did a damn good job at it. He won the race.”

Hamlin finished second, followed by Tyler Reddick, Bubba Wallace and Ross Chastain. Dillon's victory was not good news for Wallace and the other drivers on the playoff bubble.

“Nice to walk out of here with a top-five finish,” Wallace said. "We have a long way to go. We just have to keep fighting. I guess you can dump somebody and right rear somebody and be OK. It’s funny how that works.”

Christopher Bell won the first stage, but he was later penalized for speeding on pit road and finished sixth. Daniel Suárez won the second stage.

Martin Truex Jr. was knocked from the race by engine trouble early in the final stage. He remains the top winless driver in the standings.

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AP NASCAR: https://apnews.com/hub/nascar-racing

FILE - Denny Hamlin is introduced before a NASCAR Cup Series race, Sunday, June 23, 2024, at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, in Loudon, N.H. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)

FILE - Denny Hamlin is introduced before a NASCAR Cup Series race, Sunday, June 23, 2024, at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, in Loudon, N.H. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)

FILE - Joey Logan poses with the pole award in victory lane after earning the position for the NASCAR Xfinity Series auto race at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas, Saturday, April 8, 2017. (AP Photo/Larry Papke, File)

FILE - Joey Logan poses with the pole award in victory lane after earning the position for the NASCAR Xfinity Series auto race at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas, Saturday, April 8, 2017. (AP Photo/Larry Papke, File)

FILE - Austin Dillon during the NASCAR Daytona 500 auto race media day Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File)

FILE - Austin Dillon during the NASCAR Daytona 500 auto race media day Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File)

Next Article

A 2,000-year-old statue is found abandoned in a garbage bag in Greece

2025-01-23 00:17 Last Updated At:00:20

THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — A marble statue of a woman believed to be more than 2,000 years old was found abandoned in a garbage bag near the Greek city of Thessaloniki, police said Wednesday.

A resident discovered the 80-centimeter (31-inch) headless statue beside a trash bin in Neoi Epivates, outside Greece’s second-largest city. The man turned it over to local authorities, who contacted archaeologists to assess its significance.

Police said experts, following an initial evaluation, determined the piece dates to the Hellenistic era, a period roughly between 320 and 30 B.C. that was marked by a flourishing of art and culture following the conquests of Alexander the Great.

The statue was sent for further examination by archaeologists. It will ultimately be handed over to the local antiquities authority for preservation and study.

Police opened an investigation to determine who discarded the statue and briefly detained a man for questioning who was later released without charge.

Accidental archaeological discoveries are relatively common in Greece, a country renowned for its ancient heritage, and often made during building construction or public works. In December, workers installing natural gas pipelines near Athens uncovered a Roman-era statue of Hermes buried upright in a brick-lined pit near the Acropolis.

Thessaloniki weeks ago unveiled a trove of antiquities found during the decades-long construction of its metro system, which officially opened in November. Key finds, including a marble-paved Roman thoroughfare and tens of thousands of artifacts spanning the Greek, Byzantine, and Ottoman periods, are now showcased at subway stations.

This undated handout photo provided by the Greek Police and released on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025 shows a marble statue of a woman believed to be more than 2,000 years old which was found abandoned in a garbage bag in the northern city of Thessaloniki, Greece. (Greek Police via AP)

This undated handout photo provided by the Greek Police and released on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025 shows a marble statue of a woman believed to be more than 2,000 years old which was found abandoned in a garbage bag in the northern city of Thessaloniki, Greece. (Greek Police via AP)

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