After a 3-hour, 20-minute rain delay, Dillon – whose only hope to make the playoffs was to win the regular season finale – restarted in the lead on Lap 145 but quickly lost it to Cindric.
With three laps remaining, Dillon got into the back of Cindric entering Turn 1 and got him loose, which allowed Dillon to reclaim the lead and he held off his Richard Childress Racing teammate, Tyler Reddick, by 0.128 seconds to secure the win.
Dillon got into the position of the lead because of a massive wreck on Lap 138. Rain – which had already been threatening for several laps – finally began coming down hard as the field entered Turn 1.
Several cars immediately began spinning on the track. Dillon, who was running 16th entering Turn 1, was the first car to emerge from the carnage when the caution was displayed and scored the leader.
The win is the fourth of Dillon’s career and second at Daytona. He also won the 2018 Daytona 500.
“What a crazy race. I’ve got to thank my teammate Tyler Reddick, everybody that makes this thing happen,” Dillon said. “Man, we’re in the playoffs!
“There was a lot going on there (battling Cindric). I knew if it got to the white (flag) I was afraid if I waited too long I was afraid somebody would wreck behind us. So, I wanted to go ahead and get the lead.
“I had a big run to him and I knew I had a teammate back there and we were in pretty good shape. Gave (Cindric) a little too much push there, got him loose and we went going.”
Although he was encouraged by his grandfather and team owner Richard Childress to wait until the final lap to make a move, Dillon said the smaller field made his choose otherwise.
“I felt like I had good (Chevrolet) teammates behind me. If I could get the lead, (Cindric) would not be able to hold onto the draft,” he said. “We’ve done it in practice enough to know that you’ll lose the tail (end of the draft), and it’s hard to get back to it.”
Joining Dillon in the 16-driver playoffs – which begin next weekend at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway – are Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Ross Chastain, Christopher Bell, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, William Byron, Alex Bowman, Daniel Suarez, Reddick, Denny Hamlin, Cindric, Chase Briscoe and Ryan Blaney (who was the only driver to get in on points).
Cindric rallied to finish third in the race, Landon Cassill was fourth and Noah Gragson ended up a career-best fifth.
Completing the top-10 were Cody Ware,…
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