Brad Keselowski and Austin Dillon tangled on Lap 193 of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Nashville Superspeedway, putting an end to the former driver’s night. Keselowski spun up the racetrack and into the outside wall after contact from Dillon in an incident Keselowski later deemed intentional.
“It’s pretty clear he wrecked me intentionally after seeing that replay,” Keselowski said in an interview with Prime Sports after being released from the infield care center. This sentiment echoed what he was told by spotter TJ Majors after the incident. “The No. 3 wrecked you on purpose,” Majors was heard saying. “He’s mad at you from earlier.”
The Incident In Context
Austin Dillon turns Brad Keselowski! pic.twitter.com/mcE4rod98E
— Rubbin is Racing (@rubbinisracing) June 1, 2026
As referenced by Majors, Dillon and Keselowski had another incident earlier in the race. On Lap 146 Keselowski decelerated to avoid the slower car of Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who was entering pit road. His No. 6 RFK Racing Ford drifted up the track in Turn 4, before then sliding back down toward the apron.
There, Dillon’s No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet and Chris Buescher’s No. 17 RFK Racing Ford appeared to have a run to Keselowski’s inside. Keselowski seemed to slide down in front of Dillon, who then spun after contact from behind by Buescher. Dillon spun into the infield grass, bringing out a caution.
Austin Dillon did a great job not hitting anything right here pic.twitter.com/0jaXrdgfmS
— Rubbin is Racing (@rubbinisracing) June 1, 2026
Only 47 laps later, Dillon was behind Keselowski again in nearly the same place on the track. This time, he made contact with Keselowski and sent the No. 6 spinning. Keselowski collided with Austin Cindric on his way up, and then slammed the outside wall. He finished 34th, causing him to drop from 11th to 12th in the NASCAR Cup Series standings.
Aftermath
While Brad Keselowski was vocal in his interview claiming the incident was intentional, Austin Dillon does not appear to have addressed the incident directly in the hours following Sunday’s race. He came over his radio at the time saying that the contact “wasn’t our fault”. Dillon also asked why other cars around him lifted off the gas at that point on the track.
After the race, Prime Sports analysts Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Corey LaJoie shared their thoughts. “You’re trying to just find a hole to get to the front,” LaJoie said. “I’m looking at this and it doesn’t look malicious. It’s just offline bumpers.”
“We were listening to the audio and the No. 3’s out of the gas, he didn’t go down the racetrack,” Earnhardt Jr. added. “He might’ve, could’ve cut him a break right there but I don’t think that that was him going down there and going, ‘here’s my shot to wreck him, he hurt my race earlier’. If anything he would be maybe angry with Buescher over what happened earlier in the race.”
Leaving Nashville Keselowski is currently 12th in the standings, 43 points above the Chase cutoff line. Dillon is 24th, 62 points below the cutoff.
