The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Amid delayed Daytona drama, Austin Dillon grabs Playoff spot
With a huge assist from Richard Childress Racing teammate Tyler Reddick after a rain delay of more than three hours, Austin Dillon forced his way into the Cup Series Playoff and broke Martin Truex Jr.’s heart.
Dillon’s victory in Sunday’s raindelayed Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway—his first of the season and his second at the track— needed the convergence of several different circumstances to fall into place.
After avoiding serious damage in a wreck off Turn 4 on lap 125, Dillon survived a subsequent 13-car melee in Turn 1 and took the lead before rain halted the race. After a red-flag period of 3 hours, 19 minutes, 57 seconds, Dillon fell behind 2022 Daytona 500 winner Austin Cindric and trailed him from the restart on Lap 145 of 160 until he made the race-winning move on Lap 158.
As the cars reached Turn 1, Dillon tapped Cindric’s No. 2 Team Penske Ford, and the Chevrolets of Dillon, Reddick and Landon Cassill moved past as Cindric made a magnificent save on the apron. Reddick, the race runner-up, closed up to the bumper of Dillon’s No. 3 Chevrolet and drafted with his teammate to the finish line, holding off a last-ditch run from Cindric, who finished third, just .140 seconds behind the winner.
“There was a lot going on there. I knew that if we got to the white (final lap), I was afraid somebody would—if I waited too long, I was afraid somebody would wreck behind us, so I wanted to go ahead and get the lead. We were able to get it.
“I had a big run to him, and then I had my teammate, the 8 (Reddick), back there. I knew we were in good shape there to the end. He did a good job checking up any kind of run. Just a little too much push there and got him (Cindric) loose.”
Cindric said the bump was fair game, give what was on the line for Dillon.
“I think that’s fair game any race of the season, but that meant a lot for him to win that race,” Cindric told Fox Sports.
“I feel like he got the run too late, and then he hit me straight on the entry to the corner. Just glad I saved it, glad I got a shot to still come back up through the field—but I hate losing.”
Dillon’s victory knocked Truex out of the Playoff and handed the final berth to Ryan Blaney, who finished three points ahead of Truex in the final regular-season standings.
When heavy rain stopped the action 21 laps from the finish, it looked as if Dillon might be awarded the victory.
As the cars sped toward Turn 1 on Lap 138, a sudden rain began to fall. The cars of Justin Haley, Daniel Hemric and Denny Hamlin broke loose at the front of the field, and the cars behind them were unable to stop on the slick asphalt and plowed into the wreck.
Dillon’s No. 3 Chevrolet, which had been damaged in a wreck off Turn 4 on Lap 125— and ended its slide facing backward on pit road—was the first to emerge from the Lap 138 chaos at cautious pace and shortly thereafter was confirmed as the race leader by NASCAR.
“We ran into rain in the middle of Turn 1 and just lost it,” Hamlin said of the 13-car pileup. “We had rain down the front. So about 10 seconds before we got into Turn 1, it was raining. I’m sure the fans felt it, and then they watched us all pile in there.”
NASCAR opted to wait out the rain, dried the track and lifted the red flag at 3:54 p.m. The resumption didn’t change the winner, but it enabled Blaney to move up the leaderboard past wrecked cars to a 15th-place finish, enough to eliminate eight-place finisher Truex from the Playoff.
Cassill ctook fourth, followed by Noah Gragson, as only 10 drivers finished on the lead lap, and only 17 were running at the end.
Early in the race, Blaney got a serious scare, as far as his Playoff hopes were concerned. On Lap 31, Blaney’s No. 12 Team Penske Ford was third in line in the bottom lane behind Erik Jones and Denny Hamlin when Jones’ No. 43 Petty GMS Chevrolet got loose and lost momentum off Turn 2.
Blaney slammed into the back of Hamlin’s Toyota, turning the No. 11 Camry toward the infield. As the bottom lane compressed, Christopher Bell’s No. 20 Toyota spun behind Blaney, shot across the track and knocked Blaney’s Mustang into the outside wall, severely damaging the right-front quarter of Blaney’s car.
The eight-car accident knocked Bell and Brad Keselowski out of the race, denying Keselowski a Playoff spot for the first time since 2013.
&KNNQPOU XKEVQT[ MPQEMGF /CTVKP 6TWGZ QWV QH VJG 2NC[QHH CPF JCPFGF VJG HKPCN DGTVJ VQ 4[CP $NCPG[ YJQ HKPKUJGF VJTGG RQKPVU CJGCF QH 6TWGZ KP VJG HKPCN TGIWNCT UGCUQP UVCPFKPIU