Redemption! Austin Dillon wins at Richmond

 

PHOTO: Carol D'Agostino for Skirtsandscuffs.com

You don’t often get to rewrite your own story, but that’s exactly what Austin Dillon did Saturday night at Richmond Raceway when he won the Cook Out 400. Dillon also won last year’s race, but NASCAR penalized him for aggressive driving on the final lap and revoked his playoff eligibility.

The win was Dillon’s sixth in the NASCAR Cup Series and his second at Richmond—but this time the victory came with some sweet redemption.

“Man, that feels good. I’ve got to thank the good Lord above. I really wanted that one,” said Dillon in Victory Lane. “Last year hurt really bad, just going through the whole process of it. But this one feels so sweet. Man, I love Richmond,” he added.

The win was sweet for team owner and grandfather Richard Childress too. “Richard Boswell, that whole team, everybody at RCR, ECR, we just worked hard. I'm so proud of that group. Every one of them has put so much in it,” said Childress.

“Austin was dead set to come back and try to win this race like he had it won last year. I kept holding my breath. Five to go, where is it at? Three to go. When he took that white, I took an easy breath,” he added.

When the NASCAR Cup Series comes to Richmond Raceway, tires and pit strategy are always top of mind. This year was no different in that regard, but this year’s race did feature a different combination of compounds that Goodyear designed to put more control in the hands of the drivers.

The Cook Out 400 featured last year’s right-side option tire and a left-side tire that was slightly softer than the previous option tire. And to make it even more challenging, teams only had eight sets of tires for the whole race. As a result, the sellout crowd was treated to a master class in tire management and pit strategy, and then some.

At Lap 198, a Turn 3 incident that looked more like a scene at a drafting track happened, involving 12 cars, and ending the day for Chase Elliott.

As the laps clicked by, the real question was who would have fresh tires when it came to those closing laps. At the opening of the final stage, a majority of the field had three sets of tires left. The No. 71 team of Michael McDowell gambled by only putting on two fresh front tires, leading the field to the green. McDowell would be bested by Austin Dillon who passed both McDowell and Bubba Wallace. Wallace led the most laps with 123.

Despite the gamesmanship with tire and pit strategy, in the end when it came down to winning, it came down to pure speed. No one had anything for Austin Dillon. Ryan Blaney gave it his all, racing side by side with Dillon for about 30 laps, but Dillon was consistently faster, demonstrated his tire management acumen, and rolled the center of the corner better than anyone else, which helped him lead the second-most laps overall with 107 and ultimately take the win.

The NASCAR Cup Series regular season concludes next Saturday night at the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway. The green flag is at 7:30 p.m. and will air on NBC.

 

PHOTO: Carol D'Agostino for skirtsandscuffs.com