Austin Dillon's 'Winning Move' at Daytona 500 Not Something To Be Proud About

by Julian Spivey
The final lap of the 60th running of the Daytona 500 on Sunday, Feb. 18 was likely the most controversial final lap of NASCAR’s biggest race since the very first Daytona 500 ended in a photo finish between Lee Petty and Johnny Beauchamp that took three days to declare Petty the winner. With about one mile remaining in Sunday’s Daytona 500 Aric Almirola led the race looking for his second career win and the biggest of his Cup Series career. Suddenly, Almirola was turned into the outside wall by the No. 3 Chevrolet of Austin Dillon, who completed the lap in first place to win his second career race.
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Instantly folks were all over social media claiming that Dillon’s crash of Almirola on the final lap of the sport’s biggest race was one of the dirtiest thing they had ever seen in the history of the sport. Somewhat surprisingly though most drivers and NASCAR media who would chime in following the race disagree. They felt the move was either “do-or-die” on the final lap or that Almirola had caused the accident with a block that gave Dillon no other choice, but to drive through him or give up a chance at victory.

I thought the move was the dirtiest thing I’ve ever seen in almost two decades of watching NASCAR. I don’t believe the accident was any fault of Almirola’s (even though he didn’t put a bit of blame on Dillon in front of the cameras). Almirola did throw a block on Dillon on the final lap, but the block occurred multiple seconds before Dillon contacted Almirola. And, the first contact Dillon made on Almirola didn’t cause the wreck either. It’s the second contact he makes, which you can see from the side video replay (at 4:38 in video below), that turns Almirola into the wall and gives Dillon the lead he wouldn’t give back up. The replay looking toward the cars does look a little different, but it doesn’t change my opinion that Dillon dumped Almirola to win the race.

I’m a fan of hard racing and the “rubbing is racing” mentality. I approve of moves like the bump ‘n’ run that can push a car out of one’s way for a pass to win a race. If Dillon had contacted Almirola that caused a wreck as they got closer to the finish line it also would’ve been more OK, in my view. But, the way it happened leads me to believing the move to be dirty.

While most NASCAR media members don’t seem to take issue with anything that occurred on the final lap Sunday I agree with veteran NASCAR journalist Geoffrey Miller, who’s currently writing for himself, when he stated: “Austin Dillon won the Daytona 500 Sunday by wrecking Aric Almirola from the lead on the last lap. That sentence reads sour. But sour is the way it felt.” Miller would go on to write about how whether you feel Dillon was wrong depended on your perspective. It’s a perspective that’s interesting in that many fans, it looked like a majority yesterday, seem to view Dillon’s wreck of Almirola as dirty. Where as nearly all the drivers and media who approached the topic viewed it as “just one of them racing deals.”

If that’s just one of them racing deals than I’m not too sure I like where this sport is heading. But, then again, I haven’t really liked where the sport is heading for some time now. Many, including the recently retired Dale Earnhardt Jr., thought that the controversy and the story of Dillon winning the sport’s biggest race in the No. 3 car that Dale Earnhardt took to Victory Lane 20 years ago would be a huge boost to the sport, something it could really use right now among bleeding television ratings and arguably it’s three most popular drivers – Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and Dale Jr. – retiring in consecutive seasons. NASCAR has become a young sport quickly, but it’ll ultimately be the on-track product and the sanctioning body leaving it be more than it has in the last two decades that decides whether NASCAR can boom again. We shall see if Sunday’s last lap boosts the sport next week, but I don’t see it happening because only drew a 5.1 overnight Nielsen rating, making it the least watched Daytona 500 of all-time. It’s hard to grow a sport that people have already tuned out.

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