When Austin Dillon threw his helmet at Tyler Reddick midrace at Pocono

Back in 2023, while Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin might have dominated the headlines at Pocono Raceway, Austin Dillon's helmet throw also caught attention. Dillon's race took a turn for the worse after a clash with Tyler Reddick, leading him to attempt retaliation by hurling his helmet at Reddick's #45 car during the race. Unfortunately for Dillon, his throw didn’t go as planned.

He missed the mark. Reddick's #45 had already moved away from the main pack of cars by the time Dillon started his throw. The helmet ended up bouncing off the track, landing far behind Reddick's car without hitting any other vehicles.

As the next The Great American Getaway 400 Presented By VisitPA.com approaches in Pocono, NASCAR on NBC jogged fans' memories by sharing a video of Austin Dillon's helmet toss, captioning it:

"Rate Austin Dillon's helmet throw from last year at Pocono. #NASCAR"

Last year, during a battle for P10 with 55 laps remaining in the HighPoint.com 400 at Pocono Raceway, Austin Dillon found himself in a tight spot. He was sandwiched in a three-wide scramble entering Turn 1, with Brad Keselowski on the outside and his former teammate Tyler Reddick on the inside. The crunch led to contact that didn't end well for Dillon.

His #3 Cevy spun out and crashed into the outside wall. Austin Dillon managed to exit the car on his own, but his race day came to an end with that wreck.

After getting released from the infield care center, he told NBC Sports [as per Motorsport]:

“That I was mad. I don’t know - I heard (Dale Earnhardt) Jr.’s replay said that I came down a little bit. I felt like I was holding my own. He was at my left-rear going in there, and I knew we were three-wide. I think I’ve got the right to at least hold my lane. I’ve got to turn at some point to get down."

About the helmet throw, Austin Dillon said:

"No, I just need to start wrecking some people."

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Austin Dillon escaped a penalty at Pocono

Despite being involved in an incident that could have escalated, Austin Dillon was not slapped with a penalty. Similarly, Kyle Larson, who had an altercation with Denny Hamlin on the front stretch under caution, also faced no penalties. The incident occurred after Hamlin seemed to force Larson wide while they were vying for the lead late in the race.

Elton Sawyer, NASCAR's senior vice president of competition, discussed the Dillon-Reddick incident on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, stating [via NBC Sports]:

"When you get down to the end of the race and you’re in position to have a strong finish, totally understand the emotion, didn’t see anything there (that warranted a penalty). We plan to have a conversation with both of those guys to make sure we’re in a good headspace as we go into Richmond. We’ve said it before … our drivers get very emotional, which is part of what is the draw for our fans."

It will be interesting to see if similar emotional drama unfolds at Pocono this year as well.