CONCORD, N.C. – A solid start to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs for Austin Dillon took a dramatic turn during Sunday’s Bank of America ROVAL 400 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway.
After finishing 11th and sixth in the opening two races of the Round of 16 at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway and Richmond (Va.) Raceway respectively, Dillon’s solid showing on the ROVAL came to an abrupt end after Dillon made contact with Chris Buescher which sent him into the wall, causing significant right-side damage to his No. 3 Dow Chevrolet.
The team made repairs allowing Dillon to stay on the lead lap, however, as Stage 3 settled in, Dillon found himself having more trouble with another unplanned meeting with the wall which caused enough damage to put Dillon out of the race.
His distant 39th place finish eliminated him from the post-season Playoffs alongside Jimmie Johnson, Erik Jones and Denny Hamlin.
“Well, first of all, I’ve got to thank everybody at Dow, American Ethanol, and Chevrolet for this year,” said Dillon. “This is a crazy race. I was having a good run and the No. 37 (Chris Buescher), I went through (Turns) 3 and 4 and I knew I didn’t even make a mistake and I didn’t think that was how I was going to make a mistake.
“He flicked the wheel right in the middle of the corner, and when he did, I checked and smacked the outside wall and just couldn’t save it, there. And, we fixed it.
“And I came back up through there and jumped the curb and I think that’s what cut my tire down going into (Turns) 3 and 4. I should have just been more patient and waited for more attrition to go out. But I actually felt pretty comfortable and running good. It’s just hard to hold back in a treacherous race, and I guess I didn’t do what we needed to do.”
Exiting the race at Lap 65, Dillon was hoping that other Playoff contenders would fall – and give his Richard Childress Racing team a glimpse of hope they would somehow advance. While those defining moments happened, there were few laps left to make a significant impact to aid the Daytona 500 championship team.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
