No regrets: Austin Dillon shares his thoughts on Richmond and reacts to NASCAR’s ruling
Austin Dillon says he has no regrets about his on-track actions at Richmond Raceway and says he looks forward to his appeal of the penalty to the No. 3 team.
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00:00It's been tough, obviously, a lot going on, but Monday was a lot of fun, Sunday night
00:07was a lot of fun.
00:09We got our Dow Chevrolet here this week and it's good.
00:11We get to start 10th, I guess, because of the metric this week, so that's special.
00:15And we're going to go out there and give it all we got again, and with the current situation,
00:19we need to win.
00:20Hopefully, after our appeal, we get back in the playoffs where we deserve to be, and just
00:26excited about what we've got going on at RCR.
00:30What's the thought process with the appeal, Austin?
00:32Is it, hey, we want everything back, we disagree with everything?
00:36Is there kind of a process there?
00:37Truthfully, I think the best thing I can say right now is we've got an appeal process.
00:41I think this entire sport, you know, I've got to be careful with what I give out right
00:47now and for the appeal process, because it's going to be like a trial, it really is.
00:51And I wish everybody could see it, the television would be cool to be in there.
00:55But, you know, because I haven't really given my entire story of the game yet, and I feel
01:00like Denny did a really good job on his podcast, giving his side of the story adamantly this
01:06week, a couple extra podcasts than he normally does.
01:08And you know, for us, I also listened to his podcast when he talked about the appeal process
01:13and how tough it is.
01:15So I'm going to do my best to get RCR in the playoffs where they need to be, where they
01:20deserve to be currently.
01:22And from there, I will give all the media and everybody else my exact feelings after
01:29that's all said and done and over with.
01:31But man, I can't say enough about NASCAR.
01:33You know, they've given me everything I've got in this life.
01:36Even my wife and kids.
01:37You know, I met my wife at the racetrack.
01:40So I'm thankful for winning races.
01:44We've got a win this year, which feels really good.
01:47And yeah, we'll just keep going and seeing what comes over the next couple weeks.
01:52And on a night, by the way, when you arguably had the best car, you took us behind the curtain
01:56there just a little bit on the appeal process.
01:57So let's be clear.
01:59You are going to be star witness.
02:00You get to, in your own words, describe what happened, right?
02:03I think I obviously have my turn to talk about what happened.
02:08You know, Justin will be in there, my crew chief.
02:11We'll go through do as much as we can and give our side of the story is the best thing
02:16I can say and see where it goes from there.
02:18But man, this week's all about Dow and our Chevrolet.
02:21We've got a lot of coverage for Bass Pro Shops, Tracker Boats and that hunt and sale last week.
02:25So we'll see what we can do this week.
02:27Back to last week, one last time, there were two other drivers involved, right?
02:30So what has been the follow-up with Joey?
02:33Obviously, he got fined, right?
02:36And Denny was involved, too.
02:37Have you talked with them?
02:38Is there a need to do that?
02:39Yeah, no, I haven't talked to either of them.
02:41And I actually addressed the Denny part in some of my interviews earlier today.
02:44And I didn't get to address the Joey part.
02:46I probably should have.
02:47For Joey, I'm sorry for the situation that he was in.
02:52It didn't matter if it was Joey or anybody.
02:54I was going to do my best to get my team to victory lane.
02:58The situation on pit road after the race, a lot of things were said in the heat of moment
03:03from him about my family and my belief in Christ, even.
03:12So for me, I forgive him.
03:15For him getting frustrated, the pit road part with the race car was a lot.
03:19I don't know where that was kind of out of line.
03:22And I think NASCAR took care of it.
03:24But I forgive him.
03:25And I'm sure he's still mad at me for what's going on in the racetrack, but this is a game
03:28in the end.
03:29And you don't hate the player.
03:31You hate the game.
03:32That was the situation that I was up against.
03:35And I learned a lot from Joey and Denny over the years.
03:37They don't have any regrets in what they do on the racetrack.
03:40And I can't either.
03:41And I don't feel that way.
03:43I'm not going to say I regret anything because I went to sleep and felt really good about
03:48everything I had to do for me and my team.
03:51And I have gone to sleep some nights staying up until 3 or 4 in the morning wondering what
03:55I could have done differently.
03:56On this situation, I don't know what I could have done.
04:00And many years ago as a young driver, I don't think you would have had this perspective.
04:04You've grown a lot over time.
04:05Oh, yeah.
04:06I mean, I don't think I would have handled it the same way or answered any of the questions
04:10you guys are answering me in certain ways.
04:11But the sport, the landscape of it has changed and how we do certain things, you know.
04:16We're trying to create drivers with personality.
04:24And I've been told that a lot by NASCAR themselves.
04:26So it's interesting.
04:28You know, you want to do everything you can to help you and your team.
04:32And I think everybody did their job this week to try and voice their opinion on how it would
04:36help themselves and their team on the situation.
04:39But truthfully, not everybody was involved in that situation.
04:42There was three people.
04:43Austin, thanks for your time.
04:44A lot of honesty right there from Austin Dillon dealing with the aftermath of last week, guys.
04:49Still the winner from Richmond.