Teammates tangle on the track, shake hands after the checkered flag
Austin Dillon and Richard Childress Racing (RCR) teammate Paul Menard got into it on the race track, but they've already reconciled following some heated radio transmissions.
Photo by: Action Sports Photography
The two RCR drivers partook in an improvised game of bumper cars during the 500-lapper at Martinsville with neither pleased with how the other was racing them.
The radio channels lit up as paint was swapped on more than one occasion between the teammates. But if there's anything that can cool tempers at a race track, it's getting a good finish at the end of the day. Dillon came home fourth and Menard eighth, both scoring their best results of the season.
After the checkered flag, Menard went over to his junior teammate and after a brief talk, they departed on good terms.
“It was good. Paul just said we had fast race cars. That’s pretty much the end of it," said Dillon when asked about the post-race discussion.
"I probably overreacted"
"We worked it out on the track. I probably overreacted. I got to thank a lot of his effort this weekend because we used his setup today. That was pretty big. The No. 27 setup helped us a bunch.
"I helped him at the end, he helped me. It's just one of those things where everybody is pushing and you're hot in the race car and sometimes, you shouldn't key the mic.
He wasn't the alone in voicing his frustrations over the airwaves with Menard saying at one point: "Lil (expletive) has to give me some room some day."
Regarding the colorful radio comments, Dillon told the assembled media, "Pretty sure he didn't hear what I said on the radio. I'll probably have to explain myself on that one, probably should have kept my mouth shut. I'm working on it.
"I'm a fiery guy. I show my emotions and I'm not good at hiding it."
In the end, Dillon's thoughts came down to a phrase commonly used when reacting to incidents at this legendary half mile.
"It's just part of Martinsville."
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