With a bump on Austin Cindric with less than four laps to go in the Coke Zero Sugar 400, Austin Dillon rolled his number 3 Chevy into victory lane, the final spot in the NASCAR Playoffs and knocking Martin Truex, Jr. out of the playoffs.
Dillon, winless in 25 regular season races, avoided serious damage in a wreck off Turn 4 on Lap 125 and survived a subsequent 13-car wreck-o-rama in Turn 1 to take the lead before rain halted the race.
After waiting through the red-flag period of almost 3 hours and 20 minutes, Dillon restarted on the point but soon lost the lead to Penske Racing’s Austin Cindric, winner of the 2022 Daytona 500. Dillon would trail Cindric from the restart on Lap 145 until he made his move on Lap 158.
Richard Childress, car owner and Dillon’s grandfather told the driver of the number 3 Chevy that he would have to make his move on the white flag with one lap to go. Dillon couldn’t wait that long. With under four laps to go, Dillon tapped Cindric’s No. 2 Team Penske Ford in Turn 1 sending Cindric to the apron of the track and a great save. Dillon’s teammate Tyler Reddick, the race runner-up, closed up to the bumper of Dillon’s No. 3 Chevrolet, drafted and blocked with his teammate to the finish line, holding off a last-ditch run from Cindric, who would finish third.
“There was a lot going on there,” Dillon said. “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 was disappointed after the race but told the media that the bump was fair game, considering 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,” replied Cindric after the race. “He had three cars that were certainly going to be able to work with him. 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.”
While Dillon raced his way to victory in the NASCAR Playoffs that begin this weekend at Darlington, Martin Truex, Jr. wondered what could have been as the win by Dillon knocked Truex out of the playoffs and handed the final berth to Ryan Blaney, who finished three points ahead of Truex in the final regular-season standings.
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 eighth-place finisher Truex from the playoffs.
Landon Cassill came home fourth, followed by Noah Gragson in fifth, as only 10 drivers finished on the lead lap and only 17 cars were running at the end.
The race winner was declared official in the Cup Series garage area after post race inspection was completed with no issues.
The next stop on the NASCAR caravan is Darlington, SC to start the playoffs. The sixteen drivers will be paired down to 12 by the time the series hits Bristol Motor Speedway in mid-September.
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