“We ran our race and gave ourselves a chance,” Austin Dillon crashes and loses a potentially significant win at the Coca-Cola 600

“We ran our race and gave ourselves a chance,” Austin Dillon crashes and loses a potentially significant win at the Coca-Cola 600

Austin Dillon

Austin Dillon drives the No.3 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing competing as a full-time driver in the NASCAR Cup Series and as a part-time in the Camping World Truck Series driving the No.20 Chevrolet Silverado for Young’s Motorsports. During this season’s iconic Coca-Cola 600, he was really close to winning it before going 4-wide and crashing.

With just two laps to go for the finish of the much-awaited race at Charlotte, Austin Dillon, Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, and Ross Chastain all went 4-wide with Hamlin on the inside and Chastain on the out, but as they exited a turn, it was too tight to go 4-wide and Larson chipped off taking Dillon and Chastain leaving Hamlin for the lead. Chastain later got back onto the track and Dillon finished 22nd after getting disqualified.

Fortunately, Kyle Busch missed getting collected in that final caution as he merely escaped hitting Chastain, it was the longest ever recorded Coca-Cola 600 in history with 18 cautions in total as a result of many cars crashing. On the account of the auspicious Memorial Day Weekend, Dillon honored Chief Warrant Officer Scott Adam Stout on his windshield. Dillon managed to acquire seven top 10s and two top 15s in his 2022 season so far with not a single victory keeping his playoff spot on the hook.

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Also read: “The ups is that we had a lot of speed. The downs are flat tires,” Tyler Reddick on Coca-Cola 600’s pros and cons after taking home a P6 on Sunday

“A win is going to be important because of where we are in points, so I went for it,” Austin Dillon out of the race with desperation for a win

austin dillon
Austin Dillon’s No.3 Chevy Camaro on the Charlotte Motor Speedway

Austin Dillon knew that the Coca-Cola 600 would be really long and tiresome and it all depends on staying in the race for the entirety of it, he did what he could to give himself a better chance at winning, and he was also the only one in the leading cars who had 4 fresh tires after a pit-stop following the caution issued giving him a shot at the win.

“The Coca-Cola 600 is the longest race in NASCAR and so much of it is just about who can survive 400 laps. We ran our race and gave ourselves a chance. When the caution came out at the end of the race, we pitted and were sixth for the restart, the first car on four tires. The guys gave me a great opportunity there,” said Austin Dillon.

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He further added by saying that he was finally going for it and he, unfortunately, lost his grip, he regrets not having slowed down around the corner and said that he had to take a risk given his position in the standings and he concluded by thanking and apologizing to his crew who had been of amazing help for him to almost get that victory.

“I was going for it. I just got a little loose and it didn’t quite work out. Looking back, I wish I would have backed up the corner a little bit. I had to do what I had to do to win the race. A win is going to be important because of where we are in points, so I went for it. Our crew was unbelievable. I can’t thank those guys enough. We had a shot right there,” concluded Austin Dillon.

With a 15th place in the standings with 328 points with no victory yet and just three top 5s, Austin Dillon’s playoffs spot is on the line.

Also read: “You just had to hang on to it, and it was definitely interesting,” Kevin Harvick delighted with his finish after a grueling run at the Coca-Cola 600

Also read: “I hate it for everybody at RFK,” Brad Keselowski extremely disappointed with the early end of his Coca-Cola 600 run