Dillon Battles For Win, But Settles For Runner-Up Finish At Tri County
Dillon Battles For Win, But Settles For Runner-Up Finish At Tri County
Hudson, N.C. (April 27, 2009): Austin Dillon raced his No. 3 Mom N’ Pops Country Ham/Camp Debbie Lou Chevrolet to a runner-up finish Saturday night in the Tri-County 150 Camping World Series East event.
Dillon swapped the lead with eventual race winner Matt DiBenedetto six times in the last 50 circuits. He got the jump on the final three restarts, but succumbed to DiBenedetto just two laps before the race conclusion at lap 165.
“It was just a heck of a race,” said Dillon. “I drove (Matt) hard, he drove me hard and we had a good race going there. I burned myself up a little early but we decided to see what we could get out of it. We’re just here to have fun and go out and win races. We gave it one heck of a try.”
The Tri County 150 marked Dillon’s season debut for the series, and he came out of the box strong with a qualifying effort of 86.575 mph. The effort earned the team a fourth-place starting position.
Dillon maintained a position in the top five in the early laps and started his progression forward at lap 50 when he passed polesitter Alan Tardiff for fourth. A caution came out right after the move and tightened the field up for a restart at lap 62. Dillon wheeled right into third at the drop of the green and was running second just a few laps later.
Caution flew at lap 96 and set the stage for the action to follow. On the restart, Dillon maneuvered his No. 3 Mom N’ Pops Chevrolet past DiBenedetto exiting turn one. He commanded the race for seven laps before caution put him side-by-side with DiBenedetto again at lap 112. The two went door-to-door through turns one and two, but Dillon pulled ahead going into three. DiBenedetto went out front using the bottom at the start/finish line to reclaim the lead.
A caution at lap 142 brought the pair back together again for what was supposed to be a green-white-checkered finish. At the line, it was all Dillon, but DiBenedetto and Patrick Long got alongside him to make it a three-wide battle. DiBenedetto took the lead just as the caution flag flew again at lap 149.
Racing resumed at lap 155 with Dillon jumping right out front, but an accident on the backstretch slowed the action before the lap was even completed. NASCAR reverted to the last completed lap in determining the lineup for the final attempt at a green-white-checker finish, with DiBenedetto assuming the lead.
Dillon jumped out front when it went back to green at lap 163, but DiBenedetto made a run on the inside heading off of turn two to take the lead and eventual win.
“It was a lot of fun out there tonight,” said Dillon. “We would have liked to win it, but this is all good. I think we put on a heck of a show for the fans!”
The Tri County 150 will be aired on the SPEED Channel on Thursday, May 7 at 3 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.
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