Richard Childress drops head-scratching line in regards to Austin Dillon facing potential retaliation for Richmond wrecks

Richard Childress is coming to his grandson’s defense, after Austin Dillon won the Cook Out 400 in controversial fashion on Sunday evening.

Dillon, who drives the famed No. 3 for Richard Childress Racing, was almost as low as you could possibly be as a full-time driver in the point standings, with no real shot at making the playoffs, until Richmond came along. He shocked the world, capturing the win and moving into the playoff picture in the process.

In the lead after the final pit stop before a green-white-checkered restart, Joey Logano took the lead from Dillon, but the No. 3 decided it was checkers or wreckers, spinning the No. 22 in the final turn of the race.

Then, when it looked like Denny Hamlin would go from third to the lead, Dillon made contact with him as well, propelling himself to the win.

Afterwards, Dillon’s actions became a point of contention, with Logano, Hamlin and multiple other drivers coming out and taking issue with the way the RCR wheelman won the race. Well, the team owner came to Dillon’s defense in the moments afterwards, with a quote that may have you scratching your head.

“If you kick a dog, he might bite you, but you might get bit again yourself,” Childress told Jeff Gluck of The Athletic, asked if he’s worried Austin Dillon might get retaliated against for his actions coming to the checkered flag at Richmond.

Evidently, Childress isn’t worried about Dillon getting some revenge taken out on him, and he believes Logano, Hamlin and anyone else should be fearing the No. 3. It’s certainly an interesting way to phrase things after last night.

Regardless, Dillon did all he could for a miraculous win that saved his season, and it’s evident he’s not exactly apologizing for the move.

“I’ve seen Denny and Joey make moves that have been you know, running people up the track to win,” Dillon said, calling out what he seemingly believes to be a double standard, via Matt Weaver of Sportsnaut. “This was the first opportunity in two years for me to be able to get a win, I drove in there and kept all four tires turning across the start-finish-line. 

“To me, I’ve seen a lot of stuff over the years in NASCAR, where people move people, and it’s just part of our sport, you know what I mean? Remember when, you know, Joey said, short track racing, he knows what it was. In your shoes, what would you do?”

Time will tell whether Austin Dillon has to pay a price for Sunday’s victory, but it’s all celebratory at the moment, even if Richard Childress is dropping warnings to the rest of the field.