“I had my teammate,” Tyler Reddick secures a playoff spot for Austin Dillon by helping him to win the chaotic regular-season finale at Daytona
Austin Dillon wins 2022 Coke Zero Sugar 400
The 2022 regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway was just another cup race day at the iconic track. Cars wrecked all around the way, with the heavy rain posing a heavy challenge for the drivers. The race got delayed twice as it was first rescheduled from Saturday night to Sunday morning, then the later part of the race was postponed once again due to heavy rain.
Austin Dillon drove the No:3 Richard Childress Racing Camaro ZL1 to the victory lane, making him the 16th different race winner of the season, which earned him a playoff spot he craved at the cost of Martin Truex Jr.’s playoff dreams. Luck and a dedicated drive from teammate Tyler Reddick who played a huge part in Dillon’s win and march to the playoff.
Austin Dillon survived the crash fest the race has been. After making an impressive come back from going a lap down in a crash that occurred on lap 125, the RCR man took the opportunity with both hands as he was presented a small window of opportunity to squeeze his way to the lead in a multi-car crash that occurred in the front row on lap 138.
Caution and later Red Flag was called soon after the incident as heavy rain followed the crash, and after hours of delay, when the race finally got the green flag, Dillon once again found himself on the back foot as Austin Cindric took the lead from him. But Dillon got the better of the Daytona 500 champion as he forced him lose control while Tyler Reddick drafted his teammate to a win.
Find out what Austin Dillon had to say about the win
Austin Dillon acknowledged that a lot was going on at the track. He pointed out that he took his chances before the final lap in order to make sure that he would be ahead even if the race got stopped with another chaotic crash or caution without waiting too much.
“There was a lot going on there. I knew that if we got to the white [flag], 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,” Austin Dillon said.
Austin Dillon went on to say that his teammate Tyler Reddick had a big role to play in his win as the No:8 Chevy defended his teammate’s lead run. He pointed out that the car was in the right shape for the final lap and the loss run he prompted of Austin Cindric was just a small bump.
“I had a big run to him, and then I had my teammate, the No. 8 [Reddick], back there. I knew we were in good shape there to the end. He did a good job checking up on any kind of run. Just a little too much push there and got him [Cindric] loose,” Austin Dillon added.
Austin Cindric, who got lost on lap 58 after Dillon bumped him, acknowledged that considering what was online for him, the RCR driver did nothing wrong in trying to move him out of the way, saying, “I think that’s the fair game any race of the season, but that meant a lot for him to win that race. He had three cars that were certainly going to be able to work with him…,”.
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Justin P Joy
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