NASCAR at Richmond results: Austin Dillon earns redemption, playoff spot with back-to-back Richmond wins

By: CBS Sports Posted On: August 17, 2025 View: 1

In a virtuoso performance that is arguably the most impressive of his entire body of work at NASCAR's highest level, Austin Dillon took over the Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway on Saturday night, leading much of the second half of the race before driving away to earn his first win of the 2025 season and the sixth of his Cup career. Dillon's win makes him the 14th different driver to win a race this season, vaulting himself into the playoffs in the penultimate race of the regular season and ensuring he'll compete in the race for the championship.

Dillon had entered Saturday night's race as the defending Richmond winner, but his victory a year ago had been marred by controversy. After a late race caution erased his sizable lead and sent the race to overtime, Dillon made a desperate move in the final corner after losing the lead to Joey Logano, spinning Logano out and then right hooking Denny Hamlin into the wall to re-take the lead and preserve his victory and a presumptive playoff spot. Although Dillon was allowed to keep his win, NASCAR penalized the driver of the No. 3 for rough driving and deemed his win impermissible for playoff eligibility.

NASCAR 2025 race schedule, results: Complete list of Cup Series race dates, winners, tracks, locations

Steven Taranto

One year later, there was no such room to question Dillon, who has been oft-criticized throughout his career as the grandson of car owner Richard Childress and the heir apparent to RCR. And by the time the checkered flag flew, there was no one in front of Dillon after he led five times for a career-high 107 laps.

"I really wanted that one. Last year hurt really bad just going through the whole process of it. But this one feels so sweet," Dillon told NBC Sports, who also shared that he has been racing with a broken rib for the past two weeks. "... Every one of these means so much to me. And my grandfather for all that he's put up in believing in me, because there's been a lot of ups and downs and it could've been easy for him to change the driver in this 3 car. But today, it feels really darn good."

Dillon's win proved massively consequential for the bubble battle to make the NASCAR playoffs, and it created a complete nightmare scenario for two RFK Racing drivers to compound their nightmare races. After finishing 30th with an ill-handling car, Chris Buescher was bumped from the last driver above the cut line to 60 points below, putting him and teammate Ryan Preece (now 94 points back after finishing 35th) in virtual Must Win situations next weekend at Daytona.

Alex Bowman is now the final driver above the playoff cut line after a second place finish, and both he and Tyler Reddick will be firmly on the bubble next week. With the two now separated by 29 points, the last spot above the cut line can easily change hands in Daytona, which means that Reddick or Bowman could be bumped from the playoff grid if a new winner emerges. Reddick's points gap over Bowman was hurt after a mid-race spin and crash in turn 4, which forced him to limp home four laps down with damage in 34th.

Team Penske's three drivers rounded out the top five, with Ryan Blaney third, Joey Logano fourth and Austin Cindric fifth. Kyle Larson in sixth, Daniel Suarez seventh, Josh Berry eighth, Brad Keselowski ninth and Denny Hamlin 10th made up the rest of the top 10.

With a 12th place finish combined with a crash and DNF for Chase Elliott, William Byron was able to clinch the regular season championship, earning an additional 15 playoff points towards his overall Cup championship bid.