Austin Dillon Wins First Ever Race at Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway

6 Jun 2017

Austin Dillon, NASCAR, Coca Cola 600, K&N

Austin Dillon celebrating his first career win at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the Coca-Cola 600

Austin Dillon won his first ever Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race of his career at the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina. The win was also the first win for Dillon’s Number 3 Chevrolet since 2000. Dillon, who stayed out on the track rather than, refueling with the rest of the leaders, barely reached the finish line first, and eventually passed Jimmie Johnson who ran out of fuel.

“Well, they haven't sunk in, by no means,” Dillon said. “I did know a lot of winners come from the Coke 600 for the first time. I talked about it today in an interview. It hasn't sunk in truthfully. I'm just so proud of all the effort that all these guys put in. I really feel like I have the best team and the best pit crew. I have no doubt in them.”

Dillon only led for the last two laps, but due to excellent driving and a great pit crew, he reached the checkered flag for the first time in his career. Dillon, was the rookie of the year in 2008 when he raced in the K&N Pro Series.

“If we get the track position, it's probably better than that truthfully,” Dillon said. ”Times in the race where we were the fastest car. Pit crew did an amazing job. I had a really good restart and an okay restart. That hurt us. But it also put us in a position where I could be smart and save fuel.”

Another first was from Dillon's Crew Chief, Richard Childress, his first win since the 2000 season when the late Dale Earnhardt won his last race at Talladega. Childress and the number 3 Chevrolet were retired until Dillon had a full season of racing under his belt.

“I'm so proud” Childress said. “We didn't even run the 3 for many years. I think to bring it back three years ago here at Charlotte and did our announcement, I think this is going into our fourth year with the 3. It's just unbelievable. Having my grandson just made it that much more special. I know Dale is up there smiling down because he would want this win, he'd want to see it with Austin.”

The other big story of the race occurred on Lap-20 when a piece of Jeffrey Earnhardt's car hit Chase Elliott's. The debris caused flames under the hood of Elliott's car and leaked oil, which Brad Keselowski’s car skidded through and hit Elliott, sidelining both drivers the rest of the race.

Austin Dillon celebrating his win at the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway

"Somebody broke, and there was just oil everywhere, and I couldn’t turn," Keselowski said. "I ran into the back of Chase. Somebody broke in front of him, and then he ran over what they broke and then he broke, so there were two cars broke in front of me and just oil everywhere.”

Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. finished in second and third place respectively. Truex led for a race high of 233 laps, and led for the most laps the past three years at the Coca Cola 600, lost his lead after a restart.

“We had a shot at it again,” Truex said. “Third year in a row we led the most laps. Felt like we had a shot to win. Two out of three we lost it on fuel mileage. That's tough to swallow. Can't say enough about my team, what they continue to do. So really proud of them.”

Martin Truex Jr. took over the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series standings from Kyle Larson with his third place finish, and currently sits with 491 points and 16 playoff points. Kyle Larson is in second place with 486 points and 7 playoff points. Brad Keselowski is in third place with 409 points and 12 playoff points.

The next race in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series will be the AAA 400 Drive for Autism.

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