What happened?
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Austin Dillon won a walk-off victory that secured himself a spot in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs in the regular season’s final race at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday (Aug. 28). Teammate Tyler Reddick helped his Richard Childress Racing teammate to the win followed by Austin Cindric, Landon Cassill and Noah Gragson to round out the top-five finishers.
Dillon’s victory is the fourth of his career and RCR’s third of 2022. It’s the first time the organization has had at least three wins in one year since 2013 and the first time both cars have qualified for the playoffs since 2017.
How did it happen?
The race really began on lap 138, when so many drivers’ days ended.
Dillon wasn’t even a part of the conversation for the lead for the whole day until that point, but at Daytona, that’s not always a bad thing. It sometimes means you’re away from trouble.
In Dillon’s case, he was right behind it.
The No. 3 team had gone a lap down early in the event and only recently been awarded the free pass thanks to a small two-car incident between Erik Jones and Joey Logano. Now that he was back on the lead lap, Dillon only needed to start working his way back to the front to contend for the win.
What he didn’t know was that Mother Nature was about to give him an express lane.
Here’s a look at the incident on Lap 138 at @DAYTONA. pic.twitter.com/6CySgUxG2r
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 28, 2022
The 13-car crash occurred after rain had begun pouring in turn 1 unbeknownst to race control. As the field entered the corner at racing speed three abreast, the leading cars began to slide on their slick non-grooved tires and crashed ahead of the field. Everyone was so close to the leading cars they had nowhere to go.
That is, everyone except the No. 3.
Ride with @austindillon3 as he avoids the accident in the middle of the corner at @DAYTONA. pic.twitter.com/lrFNkwjbv7
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 28, 2022
Dillon inherited the lead as the field froze under the rain-induced caution. The yellow flag became red and the remaining cars stayed stationary on pit road for three hours.
Despite a long delay, NASCAR remained vigilant in returning to racing, which they did with 17 laps to go.
There weren’t many cars left on the lead lap, but among them was the Team Penske Ford of Cindric, who received a push from Martin Truex Jr. on the restart. Cindric took the lead and had to hold off Dillon for the last 17 laps as…
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