Austin Dillon, driver of the No. 3 Nascar Camaro ZL1, needed a win to get into the 16-driver Playoffs field – and that’s exactly what he did at Daytona International Speedway on August 28th.
The race was scheduled to occur on Saturday, August 27th, but was rained out until the following morning. With the threat of rain looming, the race began at 10 a.m. ET on Sunday. However, with 30 laps left, the rain came pouring down again, slicking the track and causing a massive pileup in Turn 1 that took out most of the field’s top competitors. Dillon guided the No. 3 Camaro through the mess and was scored leader when the red flag flew.
The race was held up for three hours while track drying efforts were underway. Once the track was dried and the drivers mounted back into their race cars, Dillon’s No. 3 Nascar Camaro rolled off the line behind the No. 2 Ford Mustang of Austin Cindric, this season’s Daytona 500 victor. Dillon, desperate to get to the front, threw his No. 3 Camaro across the No. 2 Mustang’s rear bumper, forcing Cindric to plummet through the field. With teammate Tyler Reddick’s No. 8 Camaro blocking behind him, Dillon galloped to the checkered flag and secured his Playoffs position.
“There was a lot going on there… I was afraid somebody would wreck behind us, so I wanted to go ahead and get the lead. We were able to get it,” Dillon said after the race. “I had a big run to (Cindric), and then I had my teammate, the 8 (Reddick), back there. I knew we were in good shape there to the end. He did a good job checking up any kind of run. Just a little too much push there and got him (Cindric) loose.”
Overall, out of 37 competitors who took the green flag, only 17 crossed the finish line. The others were involved in wrecks or suffered critical mechanical failures.
Dillon’s upset win gave Ryan Blaney, driver of the No. 12 Mustang, the final Playoffs position, bumping Martin Truex Jr., driver of the No. 19 Toyota TRD Camry, out of the championship by a mere three points. The 16 drivers currently eligible for championship contention in the final 10 races of the 2022 season are as follows:
- Chase Elliott, No. 9 Chevy Camaro ZL1
- Joey Logano, No. 22 Ford Mustang
- Ross Chastain, No. 1 Chevy Camaro ZL1
- Kyle Larson, No. 5 Chevy Camaro ZL1
- William Byron, No. 24 Chevy Camaro ZL1
- Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Toyota TRD Camry
- Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Ford Mustang
- Tyler Reddick, No. 8 Chevy Camaro ZL1
- Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Ford Mustang
- Christopher Bell, No. 20 Toyota TRD Camry
- Kyle Busch, No. 18 Toyota TRD Camry
- Chase Briscoe, No. 14 Ford Mustang
- Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Camaro ZL1
- Austin Cindric, No. 2 Ford Mustang
- Alex Bowman, No. 48 Chevy Camaro ZL1
- Austin Dillon, No. 3 Chevy Camaro ZL1
Finish | Start | Car Number | Driver | Team | Laps Run | Laps Led | Car |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 21 | 3 | Austin Dillon | BREZTRI Chevrolet | 160 | 10 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
2 | 6 | 8 | Tyler Reddick | Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet | 160 | 13 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
3 | 14 | 2 | Austin Cindric # | Menards/Maytag Ford | 160 | 13 | Ford Mustang |
4 | 35 | 77 | Landon Cassill(i) | Voyager: Crypto for All Chevrolet | 160 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
5 | 37 | 62 | * Noah Gragson(i) | Beard Motorsports/Southpoint Chevrolet | 160 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
6 | 33 | 51 | Cody Ware | Nurtec ODT Ford | 160 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
7 | 36 | 78 | BJ McLeod(i) | NASCAR Rivals Ford | 160 | 2 | Ford Mustang |
8 | 13 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Bass Pro Shops Toyota | 160 | 1 | Toyota TRD Camry |
9 | 34 | 15 | David Ragan | Select Blinds/Jacob Companies Ford | 160 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
10 | 22 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Interstate Batteries Toyota | 160 | 7 | Toyota TRD Camry |
11 | 30 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | DoorDash Toyota | 159 | 2 | Toyota TRD Camry |
12 | 3 | 22 | Joey Logano | Shell Pennzoil Ford | 158 | 14 | Ford Mustang |
13 | 23 | 45 | Ty Gibbs(i) | Monster Energy Toyota | 158 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
14 | 10 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Ally Chevrolet | 156 | 11 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
15 | 16 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Advance Auto Parts Ford | 154 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
16 | 15 | 41 | Cole Custer | Autodesk/HaasTooling.com Ford | 153 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
17 | 11 | 43 | Erik Jones | FOCUSfactor Chevrolet | 148 | 22 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
18 | 25 | 42 | Ty Dillon | Thorntons Chevrolet | 144 | 1 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
19 | 29 | 21 | Harrison Burton # | Dex Imaging Ford | 140 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
20 | 7 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Mobil 1 Ford | 139 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
21 | 27 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Smithfield Ford | 138 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
22 | 20 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Kroger/NOS Chevrolet | 138 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
23 | 32 | 38 | Todd Gilliland # | First Phase Ford | 138 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
24 | 4 | 99 | Daniel Suarez | Freeway Insurance Chevrolet | 137 | 2 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
25 | 19 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | FedEx Cares Toyota | 137 | 13 | Toyota TRD Camry |
26 | 28 | 16 | Daniel Hemric(i) | Cirkul Chevrolet | 137 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
27 | 8 | 17 | Chris Buescher | Fifth Third Bank Ford | 137 | 1 | Ford Mustang |
28 | 18 | 31 | Justin Haley | Celsius Chevrolet | 137 | 8 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
29 | 2 | 9 | Chase Elliott | A SHOC Chevrolet | 137 | 31 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
30 | 31 | 7 | Corey LaJoie | Built.com Chevrolet | 137 | 6 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
31 | 26 | 14 | Chase Briscoe | Mahindra Tractors Ford | 124 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
32 | 9 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Horizon Hobby Ford | 101 | 2 | Ford Mustang |
33 | 12 | 1 | Ross Chastain | Jockey Chevrolet | 101 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
34 | 17 | 24 | William Byron | Axalta Chevrolet | 101 | 1 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
35 | 24 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | Castrol Ford | 31 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
36 | 5 | 20 | Christopher Bell | Rheem Toyota | 30 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
37 | 1 | 5 | Kyle Larson | HendrickCars.com Chevrolet | 14 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
# – Rookie
i – Points ineligible
* – Part-time driver
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Comments
Another Chevy Win… No more need to say…😛