Steve Letarte, a Hendrick Motorsports legend, recently commented on Austin Dillon's Cup Series victory at Richmond Raceway. He commended Dillon’s self-belief and said that he liked his “swagger”.Austin Dillon scored a NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out 400 win at Richmond Raceway on August 16, 2025, in his sixth career series victory, advancing to the NASCAR playoffs. Dillon led 107 of the 400-lap event, and 2.471 seconds was the margin of victory as he won by a hair by outlasting Alex Bowman over the final 15 laps, with Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, and Austin Cindric rounding out the top five. This win was especially sweet for Dillon as it was his first top-five finish of 2025, ended a winless stretch of 37 races, and came despite competing with a broken rib.Redemption took the form of Dillon, who, having won at Richmond in 2024, then had his playoff eligibility taken away for a race done in retaliation toward Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin on the final lap. Besides his dramatic and disputed win last year, Dillon’s 2025 victory was a clean and unchallenged one. By winning, Dillon secured a spot in the playoff field for the first time in three years as he made the 16-driver Cup Series playoff field and became No. 14th driver to qualify. The victory was also good for Dillon as he became just the second driver ever for Richard Childress Racing to secure consecutive wins at Richmond Raceway, with Dale Earnhardt the other to pull it off.Steve Letarte on Inside the Race said:"He was a little, had some humility and self-acceptance when he goes on high grip racetracks. I feel like I don't fire off fast enough. I'm not as, I can't attack like these other guys. But if you take somewhere that I have to manage tires, I'll put, his exact words were, I'll put myself up against the best any day. I like the swagger, and man, man, I'd love to call him out, but twice I've seen this three do burnouts on the front stretch at Richmond, so I'm gonna have to just tip my hat to the driver of the three."Steve Letarte is renowned for his accomplishments as NASCAR’s top crew chief, where he picked up 15 checkers in the sport’s top series, including a Daytona 500 victory in 2014, which came with Dale Earnhardt Jr. His time as crew chief included moments running Jeff Gordon’s No.24 car to 10 wins and 76 top-fives and getting Earnhardt Jr. back in the title hunt after years out of the Chase. Austin Dillon opens up on arguments with Richard Childress over RCR’s directionAustin Dillon, a longtime driver for Richard Childress Racing (RCR), recently opened up about the behind-the-scenes challenges of working for a team owned by his grandfather, Richard Childress. While Dillon’s position within the squad is stable, tensions are common, especially when discussing the direction and future strategy of RCR. Dillon described post-race:"Well, I mean, we have knockdown dragouts between the two of us. We get into arguments to the point of frustration, and it's very hard when he's your grandfather to have an argument with him because you don't want to argue about it, but, there's certain directions we've got to go and move this boat forward, right? And uh I'm constantly pushing him. My brother (Ty Dillon) has stepped in now and and trying to help as well." (via Cup Scene on YouTube; 4:20 onwards)He notes that his brother Ty Dillon has also stepped in to help with the team’s trajectory, aiming to share the burden with their grandfather.