Austin Dillon turned the end of the Cook Out 400 NASCAR race at Richmond Raceway into an upset in every sense of the word!
The NASCAR Cup Series took two weeks off for the 2024 Paris Olympics. Yesterday (8/11) the drivers and teams were back at the track. NASCAR and Goodyear brought a new twist to the track for the teams to figure out.
They had their typical tires for the race which they called the “Prime” tires. I figure this was short for primary. However, they also had two sets of softer tires that would provide more grip, but would also wear out faster. They called these the “option” tires. Fans could tell the difference as the “Prime” tires had yellow lettering and the “Option” tires had red lettering.
Usually when the Cup Series races on a short track there are plenty of caution periods. However, this was not that case through 99.9% of Sunday’s race. The only yellow flags that waived through the first 398 laps of the 400-lap race were at the end of the first two stages of racing. Christopher Bell was the inner in stage one and Daniel Suarez was the winner in stage two.
Most of the race it appeared it would come down to a battle between Denny Hamlin (124 laps led) and Christopher Bell (122 laps led) for the win. However, Austin Bell had other plans.
Austin used strategy and the option tires to get up front with near the end of the race. It appeared his strategy was going to pay off with a win until the only caution for an on-track incident happened with just two laps left in the race. That sent the race to a NASCAR Overtime of a Green-White-Checkered finish.
Austin restarted the race from the pole position with joey Logano to his outside and Denny Hamlin behind him on the inside. Joey had a better restart than Austin and got out front to take the white flag for one lap left.
Austin was not going to be denied his chance to break a 68-race winless streak. He rocketed into turns three and four on the last lap. He hit Joey in the rear bumper sending his car spinning. Austin passed Joey with Denny Hamlin next to him on the inside. It looked like to me that Denny came up the track slightly as Austin came down slightly. Austin made contact with the rear corner of Denny’s car also causing him to lose control.
Austin raced forward to claim the win as an upset and upset Joey and Denny in the process. The win was his first of the 2024 season and his fifth career win in the Cup Series.
Denny Hamlin was credited with a second-place finish with Tyler Reddick in third. See the complete race results for the Cooke Out 400 at Richmond Raceway here.
Kyle Larson continue to lead the point standings after yesterday’s race. Tyler Reddick moved up a spot to second-place. Chase Elliott slipped back a spot to third. See the complete NASCAR Cup Series point standings here.
With just three races remaining before the NASCAR Playoffs begin, the teams and drivers head to Michigan International Speedway next for the FireKeepers Casino 400 Sunday, August 18th.
By: Buck Stevens
