Austin Dillon’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway came to an early end on Sunday, and the veteran driver was not happy about it.
Dillon started Sunday’s South Point 400 from the 13th position, but fell through the field after the first round of green-flag pit stops. While racing with Daniel Hemric, who was Dillon’s Cup Series teammate in 2019, Dillon’s No. 3 was tapped by Hemric’s No. 31 entering turn three, sending Dillon’s Camaro hard into the outside wall.
Dillon angrily pointed at Hemric after climbing out of his car, though he refrained from any further action.
A frustrated Dillon, who was at the center of controversy in August when he intentionally crashed Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin to win at Richmond, made his frustrations clear to the media after being released from the infield care center.
“He (Hemric) just flat-out wrecked me,” Dillon told NBC Sports. “No clue why, he’s got three races left. I don’t know if he was in over his head or what that was.”
“There were just about four of us racing there, and he (Hemric) just wrecked me,” Dillon told Fox Sports’ Bob Pockrass.
“I don’t know if he just decided to get aggressive at a disappointing time in his career or what. He just wrecked me.”
Dillon’s crash caused the first caution period of the race and will relegate Dillon to a last place (37th) finishing position in Sunday’s race.
Three races remain in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season, with the Cup Series’ next race taking place at the Homestead-Miami Speedway on Oct. 27.
