Saving gas fuels Dillon’s first win
CONCORD, N.C. — Austin Dillon passed an out-of-gas Jimmie Johnson two laps from the end in the Coca-Cola 600 for his first NASCAR Cup victory last night, returning the iconic No. 3 car to Victory Lane.
Dillon, the grandson of Hall of Fame car owner Richard Childress, was among several drivers who chose not to pit down the stretch. Johnson ran out of fuel on Lap 399, and Dillon was able to cruise to victory ahead of Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr., who led the most laps at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the third straight season.
“It hadn’t sunk in. I can’t believe it,” Dillon said. “We’re in the chase baby. It’s awesome.”
Dillon did his signature belly slide celebration in the damp grass at Charlotte, outlasting a rain delay of nearly 1 hour, 40 minutes and several established drivers to take his first checkered flag.
Dillon is the 10th driver to pick up his first Cup win in the CocaCola 600, NASCAR’s longest race.
Dillon closed racing’s biggest day with the surprise victory, following Sebastian Vettel’s win in Formula One’s Monaco Grand Prix and Takura Sato’s victory in the Indy 500.
Truex took the lead for the final time with 67 laps left, sweeping past Busch to move out front. Truex pitted a final time with 33 laps left, confident he’d be able to hold on after everyone cycled through a last stop.
Matt Kenseth was fourth, and Denny Hamlin fifth.
Kurt Busch finished sixth, followed by rookie Erik Jones, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Newman and Dale Earnhardt Jr., who finished 10th in his final Coca-Cola 600 as a fulltime driver.
Harvick, who started on the pole, overcame wheel problems to finish in the top 10 for a seventh straight time in the CocaCola 600.
Johnson limped home to finish in 17th.
A crash 20 laps into the 400-lap race claimed the cars of Chase Elliott and Brad Keselowski.
Something flew out from underneath Jeffrey Earnhardt and hit the front of Elliott’s car, which quickly caught fire just as NASCAR was preparing to go to a competition caution. Keselowski, who was racing behind Elliott, slammed into the back of Elliott’s car.
Both cars were taken behind the wall.
Keselowski was considered one of the favorites to win the race. He already has won twice on the Cup Series circuit this year.
“There was just oil everywhere,” Keselowski said. “You just couldn’t stop or turn or anything.”
The longest race of the season got a little longer when it was redflagged with 257 laps remaining because of lightning in the area and the cars had been taken off the track. It rained heavily, but 10 jet dryers, 12 Air Titans and three vacuum trucks were on the track to get it ready for a restart. There was no more rain in the forecast, so track officials decided the entire race would be completed.