Austin Dillon wrecks his way into the playoffs

Dillon, who had a fast car all weekend, worked his way around Denny Hamlin for the lead late in the race and appeared headed to victory when a wreck with less than two of 400 laps remaining sent the race into overtime.

All of the lead-lap cars elected to pit and Dillon was first off pit road followed by Joey Logano and Hamlin. Logano got a good jump on Dillon on the restart and grabbed the lead.

On the final lap entering Turn 3, Dillon deep into the corner and into the back of Logano and knocked him out of the way. Hamlin then pulled alongside Dillon but got turned into the wall himself.

Dillon took the checkered flag for his first win in nearly two years in the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. RCR’s last win at Richmond came in 2013 with driver Kevin Harvick.

The win is the fifth of Dillon’s career and his victory was his first top five finish of the 2024 season.

Two top contenders for Sunday night’s win were taken out of contention before the finish.

Christopher Bell, who had one of the fastest cars all night and led 122 laps, took himself out of contention when he was caught speeding during a round of green flag pit stops early in the final stage.

Bell’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr. – who led the most laps in the spring race – was knocked out of the race after 250 laps with a blown engine.

Stage 1

Bell ran down and passed Hamlin for the lead with 25 laps remaining and cruised to the Stage 1 win by 1.619 seconds. Truex was third, Logano fourth and Bubba Wallace rounded out the top five. At one point teammates Hamlin and Truex made contact battling for the second position.

Stage 2

Daniel Suarez held off Bell by 0.769 seconds to take the Stage 2 win. Hamlin was third, Logano fourth and Dillon ended up fifth.

During the break between Stages 1 and 2, Suarez was one of only two drivers to take on option tires and made good use of them, going from 17th to the lead at one point. The call put him into the hunt for the win.

Stage 3

Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, all of the lead lap cars elected to pit with Bell barely edging Suarez off pit road. Most of the field took the option tire but Suarez remained on the regular tires. When the race resumed with 160 laps remaining, Bell led Suarez and Hamlin.

With 149 laps to go, Truex was forced to pit under green for a potential engine issue. His team eventually pushed his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to the garage.

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