Austin Dillon, who drives the #3 Chevrolet Camaro, expressed his frustration at his car's potential getting cut short by the multi-car wreck in Stage 3 of the Penzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Despite a slow stop that dropped his position, Dillon believes they had a car capable of breaking into the top 10.
Starting 22nd on the grid, the Richard Childress Racing driver made his way to the top-20, when he sustained damages from a multi-car incident on lap 195. The incident occurred as drivers went four-wide at a race restart when Ryan Blaney spun after contact with Noah Gragson and Bubba Wallace. Dillon got caught in the ensuing wreck and returned to the pits for repairs.
Despite the pit crew's best efforts to help Dillon rejoin the race, the #3 driver finished 32nd, 27 laps behind the lead. Commenting on the race results, Dillon remarked:
"We had a very fast Dow Chevrolet today. We passed a lot of cars early in the first stage, which set up a strategy call to pit early and start stage 2 in the top-10. We had a slow stop and that put us mid-pack. We were able to race our way back to the top-20 and felt like we had a top-10 car." (Via Speedway Digest)
Austin Dillon ranks 32nd in the standings with 71 points and an average finish of 20.3.
Austin Dillon mentions Joey Logano as inspiration for his controversial win in Richmond
After his controversial victory in Richmond Raceway last year, Austin Dillon appeared in Kevin Harvick's "Happy Hour" podcast and suggested that he learnt his ways from the two drivers he tangled with on the final lap.
In a late caution-induced overtime, Dillon battled with Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin on the final lap for the lead. When Logano surged ahead, Dillon bumped his rear, causing him to spin out. He further collided with Hamlin and managed to cross the finish line. He faced criticism from Hamlin and Logano, who called the #3 driver's moves as adversarial to fair competition.
Defending his final lap maneuvers, Dillon explained:
"The two guys that I got into it with have done a lot that I've learned from on the last lap. I've heard Joey's interviews you know, how bad you want it, you gotta do whatever it takes, and seen him do it in Martinsville and different places on the last corner. So this time he was a victim of it and sometimes it happens."
During First Data 500 at Martinsville Speedway, Joey Logano executed a bump-and-run move on Martin Truex Jr. on the final lap to grab the checkered flag. Although similar to Dillon's last lap at Richmond, Truex Jr. managed to hang on beside Logano for a third-place finish. Coincidently, Denny Hamlin managed to secure second place amidst the chaos.