Austin Dillon won the 60th running of the Daytona 500 last Sunday in spectacular fashion, spinning race leader Aric Almirola in the third corner of the final lap to cross the line in first. Almirola, in the No. 10 Ford Fusion of Stewart-Haas Racing, had been blocking Dillon’s No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 when Dillon tapped the race leader in the rear right corner, sending him into the wall.
Austin Dillon is a member of NASCAR royalty, being the grandson of Richard Childress, son of former driver/current Richard Childress Racing General Manager Matt Dillon, and older brother of racer Ty Dillon. The number 3 worn on his car is most readily associated with Dale Earnhardt Sr., although before it was his number, it belonged to Richard Childress himself.
Dillon accomplished his first win in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup series last year at the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, but his win at Daytona is arguably more meaningful. “I said [after] my first win I couldn’t beat it,” Dillon says. “But this does. My grandfather has done everything for me. Everybody knows it. There is a lot of pressure on me to perform, because I’ve had a little bit of everything. But I like that pressure. The same with the No. 3. There is a lot of pressure behind that.”
At the same time, Dillon sympathized with Aric Almirola for the contact that cost the No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing driver his chance at winning. “I did what I had to do there at the end,” Dillon said after the race. “I hate it for the No. 10 guys. We had a run, and I stayed in the gas. It is what it is here at Daytona.”
Dillon’s win is a big payoff for Chevrolet, which just changed over from its old SS design to the new Camaro ZL1 for the 2018 season. Another four Chevrolet Camaro ZL1s ended the Daytona 500 in the top ten: Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr. (No. 43, Richard Petty Motorsports) in second, Chris Buescher (No. 37, JTG Daugherty Racing) in fifth, Ryan Newman (No. 31, Richard Childress Racing) in eighth, and A,J, Allmendinger (No. 47, Richard Childress Racing) in tenth.
Comments
Riiiiight. A Camaro.
It would be nice if NASCAR had only chevy
“Dillon tapped the race leader…” You have that wrong Aaron. It should read “Dillon PUNTED the race leader into the wall” Hmm…Looks like Austin is taking pointers from Denny on how to win a race.
I’m not a Ford fan, but hopefully Aric can return the favor some day.
Go 42!
Let’s see if this happens at another race and see what Nascar does. I’ll bet they change the rules before the season is over. Aric took the high road on this one.
If you block you get wrecked! So stop blocking!
It is just the way the cars race today. Those in the draft get a run and those in front either get a bump or get punted.
That is why we had so few cars left in the race at the end.
I was as big of a NASCAR fan as you would find but these aero packages and the BS stages and play off has stopped me from watching much anymore.
When I saw a driver sit out half the year and still win a championship that was it for me.
There is a lot they can not change due to technology, safety, cost and putting on the show but the can change the points and dirty the air up on the super speedway cars.
I watched the replay from 1988 and those cars were bricks but they put on a good show.
Today they are sealed to the ground and all run so close one mistake and you get punted to taken out in the related crash.
It is not racing anymore it is can you finish.
The last crash was not intentional but a product of the rules package.
The racing is much better today then ever before! Back in 88 you could pencil in 5 drivers that could win a championship, and 10 cars that could win the 500.
But today it’s triple that
The only races worth watching are the plate races. Cuz, all the mile-and-a-halfs are nothing but follow the leader. That’s called riding, not racing. And NASCAR wonders why attendance and TV ratings have tanked in the last few years.
Scott, If you don’t think the last crash was intentional, watch the post-race interview again. Especially the part where Dillon admitted to dumping the 10.
The 3 dump him because he was blocking! Like I said if you block and get put into the wall then you have yourself to blame.