NASCAR: They Said it at MIS on the fallout from the Austin Dillon Richmond mayhem

“I’m in a position to where, no matter what I say on this one, you can come across as being biased. And for my sake, for our team’s sake, it’s probably best for me to not go down that road. I got asked about it during the week and the thing I said was, you know what, I know how we’re racing. The way that race played out before anything was talked about, any penalties were assessed, I said no, it’s not going to change what we do. No comment

No. No, not a chance. I don’t race that way. I wouldn’t have done it. I can probably count – I honestly don’t know – less than five times that I’ve wrecked anyone intentionally in my entire career. Just not the way I race. Everyone’s got their own code. Everybody has different ways that they go about it. For me, that’s just not the way I raced.”

On his emotions watching Dillon wreck Logano and Hamlin. “My emotions coming off of (turn) two heading to the checkered, I was like – he may get him, but thank God Joey (Logano) is leading. I’m thinking about points here – cool, Joey is leading. Don’t know if he is safe. Oh shit, he hit him. Ok sweet, Denny (Hamlin) is going to win. Wow. That is where we are. That was my range of emotions. At the bottom line, I think you grow up racing, going through your wrecks, finally stop wrecking, start winning, start running competitive, earn respect. I said it after the race.”

“I don’t know. It’s clear that we’ll just keep moving the line, whatever that line is. If we don’t know where the line is, we’ll just keep pushing to more and more extremes. That’s not limited to Austin. That’s just the entire industry. I have some sympathies for all the parties involved, whether it be NASCAR or Austin, and certainly the guys that got wrecked last week but the way the system is set up I kind of understand it. So that has an effect that transcends not just the Cup Series but on down and it’s something that I think that NASCAR felt a lot of pressure to react on and they did. I don’t know if I have an idea whether they made the right move or wrong move, I guess time will tell.

“Yeah, I think it’s good to remember that the line is not written down. There’s no words; there’s no pictures and drawings of a line. For some to say that it’s clear, it’s a total body of work. It’s a culmination of decisions that we all make, and we’re all watching each other; watching and listening to the tower and they’re watching and listening to us. We’re watching our competitors. I’m going back and watching myself after an event and I continue to evolve. Yeah, it’s not clear, but I am constantly aware of what I feel like everyone is thinking. You just can’t be too far against the grain, is my opinion.”

“I just think – I don’t have anything negative to say about this with Austin (Dillon). I really don’t have anything negative to say about his character. I really stuck up for him quite about earlier in this year, when he was going through some pretty tough finishes and things like that, and talking about how I really respected his character, and I still do. He just was put in a really tough spot, where you have to make a split-second decision, and he made one that was not in the, in my opinion, best interest of the sport. People make mistakes, and I believe everyone deserves second chances.”