Last year, Austin Dillon was en route to victory lane at Richmond.
He had passed polesitter Denny Hamlin for the lead with under 30 laps to go and was cruising to an inevitable victory before the only caution of the race came out with under two laps to go, re-racking the field.
On the restart, Joey Logano got the jump and pulled out a car-length lead over Dillon by the final corner. Dillon, desperately wanting the win and the Playoff berth it conferred, drove deep into the final corner, slamming into Logano and sending him spinning. When the contact slowed him down and allowed Denny Hamlin to drive to his inside, Dillon shot down the track to turn Hamlin into the outside wall also.
NASCAR decided that Dillon could keep the win, but it took away the automatic Playoff berth that came with it, an unprecedented penalty that indicated the severity of the incident.
This year, Dillon was in the very same position.
He had a strong car all day, but finally took the lead for good with 48 laps to go by pitting ahead of the other contenders. It meant that he had to hold on as Blaney and Bowman both had a little less tire wear throughout the run, but pitting first and getting new tires when others were still on worn rubber gave Dillon a big enough gap that his competitors could never close it.
Again, Dillon was cruising to an inevitable victory. And this time the caution didn’t come. Dillon was able to come home the winner of the Cook Out 400 without having to wreck anyone, putting last year’s controversy entirely to bed as the team gets to look forward to the Playoffs.
“Man, that feels good,” Dillon said. “Got to thank the good Lord above. I really wanted that one. Last year hurt really bad just going through the whole process of it. But this one feels so sweet.”
The win also proves that Austin Dillon’s win last year, for all of its controversy, at least wasn’t a fluke. Dillon has consistent speed at Richmond and can put himself in winning position time after time. He explained that the track suits his driving style.
“Tire management,” Dillon said of the biggest factor that suits him. “I’m probably the slowest to get going on some of these tracks when it really comes to high grip. But when it comes to these places and taking care of your stuff, I’ll go against the best of them.”
This race featured tire management in spades. Goodyear brought a particularly soft compound, in fact using the option tires from last year as the right-side tire, which led to a lot of tire wear. So much, in fact, that it was faster to pit midway through the first 70-lap stage, with the tires wearing enough to make up for the time on pit road, and Tyler Reddick won Stage 1 doing just that.
Reddick’s teammate Bubba Wallace won Stage 2, and for a time it looked like it would be a 23XI Racing sort of night. But Reddick would be the victim of contact on lap 180, when Ty Gibbs got tagged by Daniel Suarez in a battle for position and shot up the track into Reddick, sending Reddick spinning. Wallace would later suffer a pit road penalty, after losing a tire on pit road. Reddick finished 34th, four laps down, Wallace 28th, two laps down.
Dillon said that the win also meant a lot for his team and family. Those two are inexorably linked, since Dillon’s Richard Childress Racing team is owned by his grandfather. While he has more security than most, Dillon said that the win lends credence to his merit to be in the ride.
“Every one of these means so much to me,” Dillon said of his wins. “My grandfather, for all that he’s put up in believing in me, because there’s been a lot of ups and downs, could have been easy for him to change the drivers in this 3 car. Today it feels really darn good.”
It also supports the team. Though it’s one of NASCAR’s most storied organizations, RCR has struggled to find victory lane in recent years.
“We really love it. Welcome, North Carolina,” Dillon described the team’s home base. “When you cross those railroad tracks, it’s all for one and one for all. Really pumped to be driving for my grandfather and my family.”
Alex Bowman finished second. He passed Ryan Blaney in the closing laps, saving his tires well enough to make that pass, but could not get up to Dillon for the win.
“Had a really good Ally 48 in the last run. Just broke the tires off too much in lap traffic,” Bowman said of what stopped his march to the front. “Didn’t get any breaks. That made me kind of work the rears harder than I need to.
“Just needed to be a little better through there to get to him. I certainly think we had the better car. Unfortunately didn’t get there. [Crewchief] Blake [Harris] and all the guys did a great job. Just came up a little bit short.”
Bowman could have used the win for an automatic Playoff berth just the same as Dillon, who was in the same position when he started the day, since he’s yet to find victory lane this year. However, Bowman is still in range on points, leaving Richmond 60 points to the good of the cutline with one race to go before the Playoff grid is set.
Unfortunately, Bowman will enter Daytona in the final spot above the cutline and a new winner, always a possibility at the unpredictable Daytona, takes away a spot on points. He explained that, as a result, the team’s focus is on getting the win, though they are in range of Tyler Reddick for the one guaranteed points position as well.
“Yeah, certainly really stressful on a lot of fronts,” Bowman described Daytona. “I mean, I think with the way that race normally goes, it’s about a must-win at that point because I think you’re most likely going to have a new winner. Just need to go execute and try to win the race. That’s all we can really do.”
Ryan Blaney ended up third. He appeared to be in the best position with 50 laps to go when he pitted a few laps after Dillon, running multiple tenths of a second faster with a six-second gap to cut down on. However, Blaney’s momentum slowed as his tires also wore and he encountered heavy lap traffic. Blaney said he felt like the tire wear just went off a cliff.
“I think we stayed out like three or four laps longer than the 3, trying to have some tire at the end. I was out there cruising around,” said Blaney. “All of a sudden I had no right rear tire left. I thought I was really trying to be disciplined saving tire. Just lost it.”
Joey Logano, who started last after being slowest in practice and failing to qualify after a tire going down sent him into the wall, finished fourth in a strong recovery throughout the race. His Team Penske teammate Austin Cindric rounded out the top five.
Kyle Larson, Daniel Suarez, Josh Berry, Brad Keselowski, and Denny Hamlin all earned top-ten finishes.
With his 12th place finish, William Byron clinches the regular season championship and the 15 playoff points that come with it.
The Cup Series returns for that final race of the regular season at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, August 23rd.
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