Teammates Austin Dillon, Paul Menard feud on the track, shake hands post-race

Martinsville Speedway’s tendency for fraying drivers’ nerves and eliciting emotional reactions was in full effect as Richard Childress Racing teammates Austin Dillon and Paul Menard becoming heated with one another during Sunday’s STP 500.

Dillon became upset with his teammate when Menard bumped Dillon, who was running ninth, up out of the groove causing him to fall to 14th. The incident occurred on lap 340 of 500 and spurred Dillon to go on an expletive-laced rant directed at Menard.

Later, Dillon would return the favor by beating on Menard’s bumper as he attempted a pass. That maneuver prompted Menard to radio his team saying, “Lil (expletive) has to give me some room some day.”

But when the race concluded any animosity between Dillon and Menard vanished as the two spoke on pit road then shook hands. Helping ease tensions is that Dillon finished fourth, equaling a career-best, while Menard placed eighth.

“Paul just said we had fast race cars,” Dillon said. “That’s pretty much the end of it. I’ve got to learn to keep my mouth shut on the radio. That’s part of racing. I’m a fiery guy, and it was fun today.”

Dillon then added, he needs to do a better job of keeping his emotions in check — with the caveat that Martinsville can be an aggravating experience.

“Sometimes you’ve just got to grow up a little bit, but it’s nice to be running up front,” he said. “... A lot of things happened today. It’s Martinsville. Your head’s hot. You say things you don’t want to mean. Monday morning I’ll talk to everybody, and we’ll figure it back out.”

The exchange overshadowed another strong result by Dillon, who’s finished 11th or better in five of six races this season. And with two top-five finishes already, the third-year driver now has as many top fives as he had in his first two seasons.

“We just keep getting better every week,” Dillon said. “I didn’t like myself last year. I didn’t like who I was for the team. I was frustrated, and I wanted to be better for these guys. When they step-up, they make me better. I’m trying to be different, but I’m not doing a lot of different stuff. They’re just building me a lot better race cars.”