"I'll never get over that": Richard Childress emphasizes feeling bitter over $3M costing NASCAR crash to Dale Jr.

Legendary NASCAR car owner Richard Childress expressed his displeasure over last season's controversy surrounding his driver and grandson Austin Dillon's win at the Richmond Raceway. Dillon won the August event by wrecking Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin on the final lap and was stripped of his playoff eligibility for the win after it was deemed that he intentionally wrecked both drivers.

Childress appeared on a recent episode of retired NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s podcast "Dale Jr. Download." The six-time Cup Series champion owner revealed to Earnhardt that the Richmond "deal" cost him $3 million due to not making the playoffs via the win.

However, Childress said it's not always about the money and added that with everything he's seen throughout his career as a NASCAR owner, he's still baffled by NASCAR's decision to take away Dillon's playoff eligibility.

"All the things that's ever happened in our career, the Richmond race, I'll never get over that one," Childress said. "Because I've seen it happen so many times and the same two guys that was involved in it [Hamlin and Logano] are the two biggest culprits, but it came down to who had the most power that could get in NASCAR's ear." (0:08 onwards)

While the win wasn't allowed to count towards the playoffs, the victory stands in record books as Dillon's fifth Cup Series triumph. It was the North Carolina native's first win since 2022 and his first win on a short track. Dillon also holds claim to victories in two of NASCAR's crown jewel races, the Coca Cola 600 in 2017 and the Daytona 500 in 2018.

After failing to make the playoffs, Dillon wound up finishing 32nd in the points standings in 2024 with one top five and five top 10s. Dillon's Richard Childress Racing teammate, two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Busch, also missed out on the playoffs, the first time he's done so since 2012. Busch failed to win a single race for the first time in his career and finished 20th in the points standings, tying a career-low.

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Richard Childress' team revealed "battle scars" after Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium

Richard Childress Racing's social media team revealed photos from Austin Dillon's beaten-up #3 Chevrolet and Kyle Busch's battered #8 Chevrolet following the Cookout Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium this past weekend. The team referred to the marks on the cars as "battle scars."

RCR shared some close-up photos of the scrapes left on both cars from the action at the 0.25-mile track, penning a caption that read:

"Brought home some battle scars from Bowman Gray. @bassproshops | #zone_partner | @winchesterammunition | @zonepouches"

Busch finished 15th in the Clash for Richard Childress' team after battling back from an early incident. Dillon, meanwhile, failed to make it through the Last Chance Qualifier and didn't compete in Sunday night's main event.