MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Averaging a 21st place finish entering Sunday’s STP 500 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, Austin Dillon aided the Richard Childress Racing resurrection earning his second straight spring top-five finish at the historic paperclip.
Unlike last year’s race where late-race attrition and aggression aided Dillon in one of his four top-10 finishes last season, a good car propelled Dillon from a mid-pack starting spot and recovering from a Lap 290 spin that collected six cars.
Making his last pit stop 106 laps from the finish, Dillon launched forward on the restart and found himself in the clutches of leaders Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch. But following the race’s final caution on Lap 436, Dillon found himself not only trying to steal the thunder from the leaders, but also protect his podium position – which he eventually lost when Chase Elliott and Joey Logano overtook his No. 3 Okuma Chevrolet late in the race.
Finishing fifth, Dillon scored his first top-five since a fourth-place run at Bristol Motor Speedway in August 2016 and jumping two spots in the point standings to 18th after six races.
“Yeah, it’s really big for our team and for everybody at DOW and Okuma,” said Dillon. “Our pit crew did a really good job today. We had a fast car on restarts and could really take off. The middle of the run was shaky for us but that last run we held on, which was really nice. That’s why I was worried about on older tires, there; but it worked out for us.”
About midway through the race, crew chief Slugger Labbe instructed his driver to get aggressive in order to march his way through the field. And while Dillon said aggression can be beneficial in assisting in a good finish at short tracks, the Lewisville, N.C. native pointed back to his team and the stout car they brought to the track.
“Well, it kind of came to us,” Dillon explained. “The car allowed me to be good on restarts, and I think that’s almost better than having to be aggressive. If your car is good at points and turns, that makes it a lot easier. Strategy worked out where we stayed out on tires and never came and lost track position, and our car was good enough to hold on the long runs.
“Starting 20th was big for us because our last practice was good. Our car had takeoff speed the whole day. It’s the first race car we’ve had that can actually restart and go for the first five laps, and that’s a lot of fun, and we’ve got to focus on that. I think the way the new racing is with the stages and stuff, short run speed is key, and if you have long run speed, falloff, it really doesn’t matter because you’re going to get a caution at some point.”
Dillon also described the Lap 289 incident which ultimately ended Kurt Busch’s day.
“We got spun early in the race, and it was one of those deals where the 77 (Erik Jones) was inside, and he came down, and it was like half I needed to go in harder and probably move him up or give him it, and it caused the big kind of crash there and jumbled up a bunch of guys,” he said.
“But it’s hard there. We left and he just kept coming left. I hit him, and then Denny hit me and whoever hit Denny (Hamlin) kind of shoved and ruined their day. I didn’t want that to happen to those guys.”
With teammate Ryan Newman earning another top-10 finish, it’s easy to see the tide is turning at Richard Childress Racing. From the heroic hail-mary victory for Newman at Phoenix to Dillon’s team to execute from so-so practice runs, Dillon is encouraged to keep the momentum rolling.
“We’ve got to thank the guys,” Dillon said. “They had a really fast race car, and we didn’t panic. We didn’t have the speed the first couple practices, which for some reason I never do here. It’s just a trend. I can’t go fast enough to start, and then we consistently get better throughout practice and the race. It’s nice to do that, but I wish I could not give the field half a race before we get up through there.
“We’ve still got work to do, but it’s huge to see RCR running better and having cars capable of running with guys (Kyle Busch) like this. It’s just fun to see his (Busch) back bumper most of the time.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
