Austin Dillon gets improbable win in wild NASCAR XFINITY race at Bristol
Aug. 19, 2016
By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
BRISTOL,
Tenn. – A remarkable chain of circumstances gave Austin Dillon the
chance to win Friday night’s Food City 300 NASCAR XFINITY Series race at
Bristol Motor Speedway.
Dillon
took full advantage, completing two harrowing overtime laps to edge
surprise runner-up Justin Allgaier in a race that went eight laps beyond
the scheduled distance at
the ultra-fast .533-mile concrete short track.
Dillon
didn’t take the top spot until Lap 305 of 308, when Brad Keselowski’s
No. 22 Ford ran out of fuel while leading under the eighth and final
caution of the evening.
Driving
a No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet that slipped noticeably in
Turn 3 on the white-flag lap – just after crossing the overtime line at
the entrance to the corner
– Dillon nevertheless held off Allgaier, third-place finisher Kyle
Larson and fourth-place Elliott Sadler, who swapped positions behind the
winner on the two overtime laps.
Dillon
crossed the finish line .227 seconds ahead of Allgaier, who won a drag
race against Larson off the final corner. And in Victory Lane, Dillon
stayed busy counting his blessings,
not the least of which was a shout-out to fiancée Whitney Ward, who
recently accepted Dillon’s marriage proposal.
“It
was just a war of attrition,” said Dillon, whose new crew chief, Justin
Alexander, got his first victory. “We had a pretty good car – maybe not
the fastest car – but the
car that won. I made a mistake in (Turn) 3 coming to the white, but,
luckily, everybody else got loose…
“It was just a war of attrition, and we did what we had to do to win.”
Keselowski’s
empty fuel tank was simply the last domino in a sequence of events that
put Dillon in position to win for the first time at Bristol – or on any
short track for that
matter – the second time this season and the eighth time in his career.
On
Lap 243, pole winner Erik Jones spun Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Daniel
Suarez in Turn 3, triggering a six-car wreck that sent both Jones and
Suarez to the garage.
“I
just made a mistake,” Jones said ruefully. “I basically turned the 19
(Suarez). It’s unfortunate. I feel bad for Daniel and I feel bad for
this team and my guys. The (car)
was really good, and it deserved a good finish and was probably good
enough to win.
“I
just threw it away on that restart and tried to make too much happen
too quick. Just trying to get back in line behind them before the others
got there, and I wasn’t clear.
Just mad at myself.”
The
pivotal wreck that followed was even more dramatic. Keselowski and Kyle
Busch were fighting for the lead on Lap 296 when Busch tried a pass in
the lower lane and slid his
No. 18 Toyota up the track in front of Keselowski’s Mustang.
Unwilling
to surrender the position, Keselowski maintained his momentum off the
corner, clipped the right rear of Busch’s Camry and sent both cars into
the outside wall. Keselowski
was able to continue, but Busch blew a tire and shot up into the
outside wall in Turns 3 and 4, collecting Ty Dillon, younger brother of
the race winner, who was running behind – and who had led briefly after a
restart on Lap 287.
“Kyle
is, of course, real good at this track, and he was quite a bit faster,”
Keselowski said. “I was just trying to hold him off anyway I could. He
got a good run on the bottom,
and the bottom groove was just a little bit faster in (Turns) 1 and 2
than it was in 3 and 4. He knew that and made a really smart move and
got up next to me, but I had a big run on exit and he wasn’t quite
clear.
“I
knew he needed to come up because 3 and 4, like I said, the bottom
groove wasn’t as good. He knew he needed to come up and there just
wasn’t enough room. I was already there
and it clipped him in the right rear. I don’t really know what happened
from there, but it was tough. We were battling really hard and
definitely didn’t want to see it end that way.”
When
the race went past its posted distance and Keselowski had issues
picking up fuel under the yellow, that left Dillon to hold off Larson,
who had led 200 laps at that point.
With
advice from his grandfather and team owner, Richard Childress, Dillon
picked the outside lane for the final restart and pulled out a victory
that would have seemed an unlikely
outcome just 50 laps earlier.
NASCAR XFINITY Series Race - Food City 300
Bristol Motor Speedway
Bristol, Tennessee
Friday, August 19, 2016
1. (5) Austin Dillon(i), Chevrolet, 308.
2. (8) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 308.
3. (7) Kyle Larson(i), Chevrolet, 308.
4. (15) Elliott Sadler, Chevrolet, 308.
5. (14) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 308.
6. (12) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 308.
7. (6) Darrell Wallace Jr, Ford, 308.
8. (17) Blake Koch, Chevrolet, 308.
9. (4) Brandon Jones #, Chevrolet, 307.
10. (20) Corey LaJoie, Toyota, 307.
11. (9) Regan Smith(i), Chevrolet, 306.
12. (11) Brad Keselowski(i), Ford, 306.
13. (21) Gray Gaulding, Ford, 303.
14. (28) Ray Black Jr #, Chevrolet, 302.
15. (18) Ryan Preece #, Chevrolet, 301.
16. (30) David Starr, Chevrolet, 301.
17. (25) Mario Gosselin, Chevrolet, 301.
18. (29) Dakoda Armstrong, Toyota, 301.
19. (26) BJ McLeod #, Ford, 300.
20. (27) Travis Kvapil(i), Ford, 299.
21. (32) Brandon Gdovic, Chevrolet, 299.
22. (31) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 299.
23. (38) Garrett Smithley #, Chevrolet, 299.
24. (2) Kyle Busch(i), Toyota, Accident, 296.
25. (10) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, Accident, 296.
26. (39) Camden Murphy, Chevrolet, 295.
27. (19) JJ Yeley, Toyota, 293.
28. (13) Brennan Poole #, Chevrolet, 291.
29. (35) Derrike Cope, Chevrolet, 290.
30. (3) Daniel Suarez, Toyota, 286.
31. (37) TJ Bell, Chevrolet, 286.
32. (16) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, Accident, 278.
33. (1) Erik Jones #, Toyota, Accident, 244.
34. (36) Hermie Sadler III, Toyota, Fuel Pump, 228.
35. (22) Ryan Reed, Ford, 226.
36. (40) Mike Harmon, Dodge, Brakes, 168.
37. (23) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, Suspension, 165.
38. (34) Harrison Rhodes, Chevrolet, Engine, 36.
39. (33) Morgan Shepherd, Chevrolet, Handling, 27.
40. (24) Matt DiBenedetto(i), Toyota, Brakes, 3.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 84.827 mph.
Time of Race: 01 Hrs, 56 Mins, 07 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.277 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 8 for 54 laps.
Lead Changes: 16 among 7 drivers.
Lap
Leaders: E. Jones # 1; D. Wallace Jr 2-5; E. Jones # 6-31; K.
Larson(i) 32-33; E. Jones # 34; K. Larson(i) 35-77; E. Jones # 78; K.
Larson(i) 79-153; E. Jones # 154; K.
Larson(i) 155-234; E. Jones # 235; B. Keselowski(i) 236-287; K.
Busch(i) 288; B. Keselowski(i) 289; T. Dillon 290; B. Keselowski(i)
291-304; A. Dillon(i) 305-308.
Leaders
Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): K. Larson(i) 4 times for 200
laps; B. Keselowski(i) 3 times for 67 laps; E. Jones # 6 times for 31
laps; D. Wallace Jr 1 time
for 4 laps; A. Dillon(i) 1 time for 4 laps; K. Busch(i) 1 time for 1
lap; T. Dillon 1 time for 1 lap.
Top
10 in Points: E. Sadler - 737; D. Suarez - 686; J. Allgaier - 685; T.
Dillon - 684; B. Gaughan - 667; E. Jones # - 657; B. Poole # - 631; B.
Jones # - 627; D. Wallace Jr
- 574; R. Reed - 532.
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