NASCAR: Austin Dillon gets the Richmond victory, clinches playoff berth

A year after heartbreak at Richmond, Austin Dillon is going to the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

Dillon won the Cook Out 400 on Saturday night, locking himself into the playoffs. It was the sixth career win for the 35-year-old and a big one, as it erased the memory of his Richmond win last year that was later overturned due to an aggressive driving penalty.

The victory didn’t come easy.

Dillon started the race 25th in the standings, but led 107 laps, including the final 49, to seal the deal. It’s the most laps he’s led all season, and the third time he’s won a race at the end of the regular season.

“Man, that feels good, got to thank the good Lord above,” Dillon said, who finished over two seconds ahead of his closest competitor, Alex Bowman. “Last year hurt really bad just going through the whole process of it. But this one feels so sweet. Man, I love Richmond.”

“God has timing. His timing is the best timing,” he continued, with his brother Ty, who finished 18th, by his side. “It’s just so special. Every one of these means so much to me. My grandfather [NASCAR Hall of Fame team owner Richard Childress], 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.”

While Dillon was celebrating, Bowman, who finished second, was frustrated with lapped traffic, which he believes prevented him from catching the leader.

“A couple favors,” Bowman responded when asked what he needed to catch Dillon. “I sure complained about it on the radio, but that’s just part of what we do, so, vented a little bit, but had a really good Ally-48 [car] in the last run. Just broke the tires off too much in lap traffic. Didn’t get any breaks.”

William Byron‘s 12th-place finish was enough to clinch the regular season championship. While he was in a 10-car wreck on lap 199, his No. 24 Chevrolet only suffered some light splitter damage.

“It feels great,” said Byron. “Really the best 12th-place finish I’ve ever had. We came in here and just did a solid job. We qualified solid, but this is definitely our toughest race track. We had a solid plan and executed, and it feels good. This team has worked hard.”

Team Penske had a great night with Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano and Austin Cindric finishing third, fourth and fifth, respectively.

Tyler Reddick and Bowman are currently in a good position to make the playoffs on points. Bubba Wallace, who led a race-best 123 laps and won the second stage, had a pit road mishap that derailed his race and finished 28th.

Chase Elliott, Byron’s closest rival for the championship title, was involved in the same 10-car accident as Byron and finished 38th.

Cook Out 400

---

Richmond Raceway
Richmond, Virginia
Saturday, Aug. 16

1. (11) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 400.
2. (9) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 400.
3. (20) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 400.
4. (38) Joey Logano, Ford, 400.
5. (13) Austin Cindric, Ford, 400.
6. (30) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 400.
7. (21) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 400.
8. (17) Josh Berry, Ford, 400.
9. (6) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 400.
10. (4) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 400.
11. (29) Zane Smith, Ford, 400.
12. (14) William Byron, Chevrolet, 400.
13. (19) Chase Briscoe, Toyota, 400.
14. (27) Shane Van Gisbergen #, Chevrolet, 399.
15. (15) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 399.
16. (28) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 399.
17. (10) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 399.
18. (23) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 399.
19. (33) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 399.
20. (16) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 399.
21. (8) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 399.
22. (3) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 399.
23. (36) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 399.
24. (24) Cole Custer, Ford, 399.
25. (31) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 399.
26. (18) Erik Jones, Toyota, 398.
27. (22) Noah Gragson, Ford, 398.
28. (7) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 398.
29. (32) Corey Heim(i), Toyota, 398.
30. (12) Chris Buescher, Ford, 398.
31. (26) Riley Herbst #, Toyota, 398.
32. (37) Cody Ware, Ford, 397.
33. (35) Jesse Love(i), Chevrolet, 396.
34. (2) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 396.
35. (1) Ryan Preece, Ford, 396.
36. (34) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 389.
37. (25) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, Accident, 198.
38. (5) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, Accident, 197.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 94.126 mph.
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 11 Mins, 14 Secs.
Margin of Victory: 2.471 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 5 for 44 laps.
Lead Changes: 24 among 11 drivers.

The NASCAR Cup Series returns to action this Saturday night at the iconic Daytona International Speedway for the Coke Zero Sugar 400.