RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Austin Dillon was first to the finish at Richmond.
The question is whether he crossed a different sort of line on his way there.
Dillon won for the first time in nearly two years in the Cup Series on Sunday night, but the race seemed out of reach before he spun Joey Logano out of the way and then sent Denny Hamlin into the wall as well — all in the final few seconds. Once the initial celebration ended, Dillon had quite a bit to answer for — but becoming a NASCAR villain for a few days may be a small price to pay for such a desperately needed victory.
“Absolutely a line was crossed, but it’s an invisible line,” Hamlin said. “It’s not defined. I mean, they have rules and provisions for stuff like this, but they never take action for it.”
Elton Sawyer, the senior vice president of competition, indicated NASCAR would take a good long look at the end of this race, but that doesn't mean the penalties will outweigh the benefits of Dillon's aggressiveness. He was outside the top 30 in the standings, but this one victory put him on track to make the playoffs.
“Our sport has been a contact sport for a long time. We always hear, ‘Where’s the line?'" Sawyer said. “I would say that the last lap was awful close to the line. We'll take a look at all the available resources. ... If anything rises to a level that we feel like we need to penalize then we'll do that on Tuesday.”
The reactions from other drivers were unsurprising. Logano was livid. Hamlin said the collision blew his shoulder out. Even Bubba Wallace — tangentially involved because Dillon leapfrogged him in the playoff race — tossed a few barbs the winner's way.
There’s no denying the excitement of the wild finish. The 400-lap race had been pretty quiet for the first 398 or so. There wasn’t a single unplanned caution until a wreck involving Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Ryan Preece sent the race to overtime and likely robbed Dillon of a much less controversial win.
Until then, the race’s biggest story involved tire strategy. It was the first time in a points-paying Cup race that teams had multiple tire options, and that created some choices to analyze. It was an interesting topic, but not a particularly thrilling one.
Then Dillon bumped two veteran drivers out of the way to win.
“As far as good for the sport, I heard we were trending No. 1 on Twitter right now,” Dillon said. “People must be viewing it right now, so that’s good.”
NASCAR, of course, is no stranger to the larger debate about when aggressive driving becomes reckless driving. But a more modern development — the playoff race — probably played a role Sunday as well. The win-and-you're-in nature of postseason qualification means the difference between first place and second can be massive.
“It’s just the rules of the sport, right? It is what it is,” Dillon said. “Wins get you into the next round.”
So Richmond turned into a perfect storm of sorts. A struggling driver had a chance — perhaps his last decent chance — to salvage a mediocre season. Dillon had every incentive to push the envelope and apologize later if need be.
Not that his team was all that apologetic.
“They would have done it to him, you know?” said owner Richard Childress, Dillon's proud grandfather. “It’s one of those deals that when it comes down to winning a race and you’re in that position, you’re hungry, you do what it takes. That’s what I told him all his life.”
Unless NASCAR hands down unusually substantial penalties, it was probably worth it for Dillon — although he'll want to watch his back for the rest of this season. Logano offered an ominous “wait and see” when asked how he'd race Dillon in the future.
Hamlin's thoughts were about the big picture.
“What happens is you see young guys coming up in the short track ranks seeing that, and they think it’s fine,” Hamlin said. “That’s why we see some of the lower series turn out the way they do in these green-white-checkered situations because some of the best that they’re seeing on Sunday do stuff like that.”
AP NASCAR: https://apnews.com/hub/nascar-racing
NASCAR's postseason format meant Austin Dillon had every incentive to wreck his way to victory
NASCAR's postseason format meant Austin Dillon had every incentive to wreck his way to victory
FILE - Austin Dillon during the NASCAR Daytona 500 auto race media day Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File)
BEIRUT (AP) — An Israeli official confirmed that the Israeli military targeted Ibrahim Akil, a senior Hezbollah military official, in Friday's airstrike on Beirut.
It wasn't immediately clear if Akil was killed in the Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs that killed at least three people and wounded 17 others, according to Lebanese health officials. The Israeli official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was discussing a behind the scenes security matter.
An official close to the Hezbollah militant group, also speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to brief the media, confirmed to The Associated Press that Akil was supposed to be in the building when it was targeted Friday. The official couldn't confirm if Akil was killed.
Akil has served as the head of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force and Jihad Council, the group’s highest military body. The U.S. State Department has sanctioned Akil for his alleged role in carrying out the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut and that he had directed the taking of American and German hostages in Lebanon and held them there during the 1980s.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
BEIRUT (AP) — An Israeli strike on Beirut on Friday killed at least three people and wounded more than a dozen others, Lebanese health officials said, the first Israeli attack on Lebanon's capital in months that came shortly after Hezbollah pounded northern Israel with 140 rockets.
Israel announced the strike, but didn't immediately specify the target in Beirut's crowded southern suburbs, where Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group holds sway. An Israeli officials
Lebanon's Health Ministry reported that at least three people were killed and 17 others wounded as local networks broadcast footage of wounded people being pulled from the ruins of a flattened building and ambulances rushing to the scene of the strike.
The strike in Dahiyeh, just kilometers from downtown Beirut, hit during rush hour, as people were leaving work and students headed home from school.
The escalation came as the region awaited the revenge promised by the militant group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, for this week’s mass bombing attack on pagers and walkie-talkies belonging to Hezbollah members.
Israel's rare strike on the Beirut suburbs came after Hezbollah pounded Israel with 140 rockets, which the Israeli military said came in three waves targeting sites along the ravaged border with Lebanon.
Following the attacks, the Israeli military said that it had struck areas across southern Lebanon targeting Hezbollah infrastructure, but didn’t provide details of damage.
Hezbollah said that its attacks had targeted several sites along the border with Katyusha rockets, including multiple air defense bases as well as the headquarters of an Israeli armored brigade they said they’d struck for the first time.
The Israeli military said that 120 missiles were launched at areas of the Golan Heights, Safed and the Upper Galilee, some of which were intercepted. Fire crews were working to extinguish blazes caused by pieces of debris that fell to the ground in several areas, the military said.
The military didn’t say whether any missiles had hit targets or caused any casualties.
Another 20 missiles were shot at the areas of Meron and Netua, and most fell in open areas, the military said, adding that no injuries were reported.
Hezbollah said that the rockets were in retaliation for Israeli strikes on villages and homes in southern Lebanon, not two days of attacks widely blamed on Israel that set off explosives in thousands of Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies.
On Thursday, Israel said its military had struck “hundreds of rocket launcher barrels” in southern Lebanon, saying that they “were ready to be used in the immediate future to fire toward Israeli territory.”
The army also ordered residents in parts of the Golan Heights and northern Israel to avoid public gatherings, minimize movements and stay close to shelters in anticipation of the rocket fire that eventually came Friday.
Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged near-daily fire since Oct. 8, a day after the Israel-Hamas war’s opening salvo, but Friday’s rocket barrages were heavier than normal.
Nasrallah on Thursday vowed to keep up daily strikes on Israel despite this week’s deadly sabotage of its members’ communication devices, which he described as a “severe blow.”
At least 20 were killed in the attacks and thousands were wounded when pagers, walkie-talkies and other devices exploded in Lebanon on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The sophisticated attacks have heightened fears that the cross-border exchanges of fire will escalate into all-out war. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement in the attacks.
In recent days, Israel has moved a powerful fighting force up to the northern border, officials have escalated their rhetoric, and the country’s security Cabinet has designated the return of tens of thousands of displaced residents to their homes in northern Israel an official war goal.
Fighting in Gaza has slowed, but casualties continue to rise.
Overnight, Palestinian authorities said that 15 people were killed in multiple Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip.
Those included six people, including an unknown number of children, in an airstrike early Friday morning in Gaza City that hit a family home, Gaza’s Civil Defense said. Another person was killed in Gaza City when a strike hit a group of people on a street.
Israel maintains that it only targets militants, and accuses Hamas and other armed groups of endangering civilians by operating in residential areas. The military, which rarely comments on individual strikes, had no immediate comment.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says that more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. The ministry doesn’t differentiate between fighters and civilians in its count, but says a little over half of those killed were women and children.
Israel says it has killed more than 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.
More than 95,000 people have also been wounded in Gaza since Oct. 7, the Health Ministry said.
The war has caused vast destruction and displaced about 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million.
A woman checks the scene of a missile strike from her damaged house in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Rescuers carry a body at the scene of a missile strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Ambulances arrive at the scene of an Israeli missile strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
People stand on top of a damaged car at the scene of a missile strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
People and rescuers gather at the scene of an Israeli missile strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
People gather near a damaged building at the scene of an Israeli missile strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
People gather at the scene of an Israeli missile strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
People gather at the scene of an Israeli missile strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Israeli Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept a rocket fired from Lebanon, in northern Israel, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
