While on air with NBC Sports during a rain delay at Michigan International Speedway, Richmond winner Austin Dillon was careful when asked about the ongoing appeal process. However, he had plenty to say regarding Joey Logano, who was central to the dramatic and ugly finish last weekend.
He was the leading driver in Turn 3 when Dillon intentionally overdrove the corner entry, spinning Logano out. After the race, Logano performed burnouts down pitroad, narrowly avoiding a crowd of people in front of Dillon's No. 3 Richard Childress Racing pitbox. He then gave a fiery interview, attacking Dillon on several fronts.
On Saturday at Michigan, Dillon noted that he hasn't spoken to Denny Hamlin or Logano just yet, but he wanted to address the Logano situation in his interview with NBC.
"For Joey, I'm sorry for the situation that he was in," began Dillon. "It didn't matter if it was Joey or anybody, I was going to do my best to get my team to Victory Lane. The situation on pitroad after the race -- a lot of things were said in the heat of the moment from him about my family, my belief in Christ even, (but) for me, I forgive him for getting frustrated."
Dillon first addressed the post-race comments before moving on to Logano's choices while still behind the wheel. Logano was scolded by a NASCAR official immediately after exiting his vehicle and was later fined $50,000. He chose not to appeal the penalty.
"The pitroad part with the race car was a lot," said Dillon. "That was kind of out of line, and I think NASCAR took care of it, but I forgive him. I'm sure he's still mad at him for what's going on on the race track, but this is a game in the end. You don't hate the player, you hate the game. That was the situation that I was up against."
Lastly, Dillon wanted to make it clear that he had no regrets. He wasn't sure what he could have done differently in the moment and claimed he didn't lose any sleep over it.
"I've learned a lot from Denny and Joey over the years," continued Dillon. "They don't have any regrets (over) what they do on the race track and I can't either. I don't feel that way. I'm not going to say I regret anything because I didn't. I went to sleep and felt really good about everything I had to do for me and my team."
The win stands, but Dillon is back outside of the playoffs. He has three races to win (again) and earn a shot at the 2024 championship, but that may be very difficult for him after losing the respect of many of his rivals last weekend.
