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Brad Keselowski spotter accuses Austin Dillon of retaliating, wrecking No. 6 car at Nashville

FaceProfileby: Thomas Goldkamp06/01/26

Tempers flared between Austin Dillon and Brad Keselowski early in the third stage of the Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville in the NASCAR Cup Series, resulting in a wreck. Keselowski’s crew told him that Dillon was retaliating for an earlier incident.

Dillon drove through the back of Keselowski on the inside of the track early in Stage 3, sending him spinning. That came after Keselowski had contributed to a Dillon spin earlier in the race.

“The 3 (Austin Dillon) wrecked you on purpose, he’s mad at you from earlier,” spotter TJ Majors told Keselowski over the team’s radio. That relayed by The Athletic’s Jordan Bianchi.

The earlier incident on the track happened when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. moved for a pit stop late, catching Brad Keselowski off guard. Keselowski then came down again after swerving to the top of the track, cutting off Dillon. Dillon caught his back bumper and went spinning.

So when the two came together again in Stage 3, tensions were already high. For his part, Dillon seemed confused by what happened in front of him.

“Why did everyone check up there?” he said, per Matt Weaver. “I was already on the brake pedal.”

Following the contact and a hard hit with the wall, Brad Keselowski headed to the garage. His day was officially done.

Keselowski was interviewed by the Amazon Prime crew shortly after exiting the infield care center. He was informed that the broadcast team had heard his crew’s comments on the wreck and was asked his thoughts.

“I don’t know. I know I got hit from behind,” Brad Keselowski said. “Can’t really put myself in somebody else’s head. But it’s a shame. I felt like we had just made the adjustments on the car we needed to be competitive. It’s pretty clear he wrecked me intentionally after seeing that replay. So turnabout’s fair play.

Denny Hamlin hit with costly penalty

Denny Hamlin got a great start to the Cracker Barrel 400 while sitting on the pole… seemingly. But after the first lap, NASCAR ruled that he would face a penalty for jumping the start.

Hamlin led by nearly a half-second when he crossed the start/finish line, per Dustin Albino. That’s because he was early on the start, which was penalized by NASCAR.

“Penalty here,” Hamlin’s team told him, per Matt Weaver. Meanwhile, Tyler Reddick, who started next to Hamlin on the front row, took full advantage.

“He got a start violation,” Reddick’s team informed him. “You’ll be the leader here.”

Denny Hamlin quickly headed to pit road to serve his penalty. The pass-through penalty put him back at the rear of the field, completely negating the advantage he had by starting off on the pole.