Austin Dillon scored the upset victory in Saturday’s Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway, putting Richard Childress Racing back in the playoffs for the first time since 2023. Dillon was an upset winner in that he entered the race 28th in the points standings. But as we saw in last year’s fall race at Richmond, […]
Austin Dillonscored the upset victory in Saturday’s Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway, putting Richard Childress Racing back in the playoffs for the first time since 2023. Dillon was an upset winner in that he entered the race 28th in the points standings.
But as we saw in last year’s fall race at Richmond, Dillon knows a thing or two about this racetrack. He controlled the race throughout Stage 3 after passing Ryan Blaney and then getting the jump on him on tire strategy. Dillon led 107 laps total, the first time the No. 3 car has led 100 plus laps in a NASCAR Cup Series race since the 1998 Daytona 500 (Dale Earnhardt). Yes, this one was big for both Dillon and his grandfather, Richard Childress.
“[Crew chief] Richard Boswell, everybody at RCR, ECR — we just worked hard and I’m just so proud of that group,” Childress said, via NASCAR insider Matt Weaver. “Every one of them has put so much in, and Austin was just dead set to come back here and try to go win this race like he had it won last year. I just kept holding my breath… when he took that white I took an easy breath.”
Childress can finally enjoy it; last year, he couldn’t. Childress wasn’t happy after NASCAR stripped Dillon of his playoff eligibility for intentionally wrecking Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin on the final lap of overtime to win at Richmond. How fitting that Dillon came back one year later and won it again — this time, there’s no controversy.
“I was not happy with the way things went down and the way things were called on us last year… but that’s history,” Childress said, via Noah Lewis of TSJSports.
Category: General Sports
