Who… should you be talking about after the race?
It took almost 24 hours, almost three hours under the red flag for rain and multiple uniforms, but Austin Dillon made a late charge to win the Coke Zero Sugar 400 and put two Richard Childress Racing cars in the playoffs for the first time since 2017.
After persistent rain Saturday night pushed the NASCAR Cup Series race to Sunday morning, the field took to the track at Daytona International Speedway for the last race of the regular season and one more chance at a title run this year. Dillon took advantage of that chance when the opportunity came to him, cashing in on a postseason bid.
Dillon somehow threaded his way through a multi-car crash that came when the rains did, the finish seemingly in sight. Had the race ended there, just 21 laps shy of the checkers, he’d still have won and gone to victory lane in his black driver’s suit to celebrate.
Dillon still ended up there, this time wearing a white suit, but it was after a harrowing finish that saw him take the lead just before the white flag and, with the help of teammate Tyler Reddick, shove Daytona 500 winner Austin Cindric aside and sweep by as Cindric’s car wobbled in the side draft. From there, Reddick pushed Dillon all the way to the checkers as just 10 cars finished on the lead lap.
AUSTIN DILLON TO THE LEAD!
THREE TO GO AT @DAYTONA! pic.twitter.com/jpFyzDaA3s
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 28, 2022
And don’t forget: Landon Cassill. Driving the second car for Spire Motorsports this week, Cassill survived the mayhem to finish a respectable fourth. Cassill has always been a very good superspeedway racer, and that skill earned him the top-five finish among a group of underdogs in the top 10. Cassill, along with Noah Gragson, Cody Ware and BJ McLeod, finished ahead of all four Joe Gibbs Racing cars and all four Hendrick Motorsports entries.
Cassill might have had a shot for the win, but his No. 77 didn’t quite have the power to make a run. He was hampered by some combined inexperience from those around him, Cinderella stories not used to racing up front for wins.
What… is the buzz about?
When Kurt Busch bowed out of the playoffs and gave up his spot, was he just a driver doing the right thing, or was he trying to help Toyota put another car in the playoffs? That was the question many were asking after Busch announced he would be unable to compete in NASCAR’s postseason,…
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