LAS VEGAS, Nev. – A slow pit stop and a untimley speeding penalty attempted to thwart Austin Dillon from a strong finish in the Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway, but in Sin City, gambling can prove to be beneficial.
And even though Dillon didn’t hit the jackpot on Sunday, his fifth place finish, the third top-five performance of his Sprint Cup career might have felt like one, keeping his early season success alive.
“Just never giving up,” explained Dillon. “It takes a lot of effort and these guys built such a fast race car I did all I could there to get ourselves back into a position to get back on the lead lap. The caution fell perfect for us. We took a gusty call there to take the wave around and get back on the lead lap to see if the caution would come out. It did right in our window.
“Things fell our way there for sure. What a fast race car we were running some lap times faster than the leader at one point in the middle of the race when we were laps down that we were really proud of. I wish the wind wouldn’t have been so bad today. I think it would have been an even better day for us. Just proud of the Dow / Intellifresh team we have something to work with. I think you will see us in Victory Lane before the season is over.”
To some though, it wasn’t a surprise to see the No. 3 Dow Energy & Water / Intellifresh Chevrolet as competitive as it was.
A fifth place qualifying effort Friday afternoon backed by strong results in practice gave an early indication that Dillon could be a factor in the third Cup race of the season, but a bad pit stop followed by an untimely speeding penalty took the 2013 NASCAR XFINITY Series champion from a comfortable spot inside the top-10 to outside the top-20.
The defying moment came when crew chief Slugger Labbe elected to keep his driver on track on Lap 217, gambling on older tires and hoping for the best — it was the best choice for them to regain all the track position they lost earlier. The gamble could have came with a bust, however, as two tires proved to be beneficial for a few laps, before competitors dropped like an anchor.
With a fast car though, Dillon persevered thanks to a few cautions and even withstood a late race challenge from Ryan Blaney late in the race to finish fifth, his first top-five since a fourth at Michigan International Speedway last summer.
“We killed ourselves today,” sounded Dillon. “To come back to a fifth, I’m blessed and the good Lord was looking out for us. The cautions fell right. We really have to pick it up as a group, me included, on pit road.
“It was disappointing because we had such a fast race car. At one point in time we were way faster than the leader. We just put ourselves behind. But, we had a shot there at the end and if we were good enough to win we would have done it. We have a little more work to do. I think a win is in the future though.”
Three races in, Dillon has yet to finish worse than 11th which has propelled him to 10th in the championship standings heading to Phoenix (Ariz.) International Raceway next weekend, where Dillon’s best run in four starts is 15th last March.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
