Austin Dillon Wins at Richmond, Grabs First Win Of The Season (8-11-24)
By: Becca Cottingham Quimby
All Photo Credit: The Tennessean
After a two-week break from racing due to the Olympics we get back to racing. This is not just any racing but racing under the lights at Richmond Raceway. Drivers and crews overall seemed to be refreshed with a few exceptions. Christopher Bell Crew Chief is working remote after needing surgeries on his knees due to injuries. Kyle Busch has his wrist wrapped due to on an on-track incident while on break. Denny Hamlin will bring us to the green flag right next to his teammate Martin Truex Jr. Richmond Raceway also has two tires for this race as options for tonight’s race. All teams have a set of seven regular tires and two sets of softer tires. With the rough surface of Richmond, the soft tires are fast but will be ate pretty quickly by the track fairly quickly. Christopher Bell starts making moves with about thirty laps to go from his third position. He gets around his teammate Martin Truex Jr as Martin Truex Jr notes he is much faster at this time than he is. Christopher Bell quickly gets to the rear of Denny Hamlin and he will get around Denny Hamlin. Christopher Bell almost lost it as he was getting around Justin Haley. While Martin Truex Jr and Denny Hamlin and additional car go three wide and Martin Truex Jr ends up in the middle and almost like a ping pong ball between the two cars. Christopher Bell will hold everyone behind him and will get the stage one win.
Michael McDowell gets the free pass to get back on the lead lap as he had kept up with Christopher Bell. Pit lane had a lot of fun as Christopher Bell and Noah Gragson make contact. Noah Gragson pit crew had a great head ups moment and was able to get clear of the car coming in sideways. Ty Dillion was caught speeding and sent to the back, while two cars took the red options tires. Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin will bring us back to the green. Christopher Bell does have some damage to the front of the car after the contact with Noah Gragson. The two are neck and neck and even make contact. Daniel Suarez and Michael McDowell both went for the softer option of the tire. Michael McDowell had to start at the rear due to his lucky dog. Daniel Suarez started outside of the top fifteen. Both drivers are at least two miles per hour faster. Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin settle out with Denny Hamlin taking the lead but that does not last long as Daniel Suarez is coming through the field quickly. Daniel Suarez was able to get around Denny Hamlin with over a three second lead on the second-place driver. The softer tires are not known for the length that they will withstand. We see multiple pit road decisions with what crew chiefs will do with the longer stage in two and three. Some crew chiefs are going with one pit stop and others two pit stops, and some could even be doing three pit stops. This as usual mixes everything up in stage and allows for different members to be up front. Daniel Suarez and team put together a combination that put them in a really great position at the end. The soft tires at the beginning with the normal tire at the end placed them perfectly for the lead to win stage two.
We head into the third and final stage as the sun is going down at Richmond Raceway. A lot of teams made decision to start the start of stage three. Martin Truex Jr called into his team stating he thought he was blowing up and had no power. He brought the car down pit road and they decided to push it behind the wall and Martin Truex Jr is out of the car ending his day. With a less than a hundred and twenty laps to go we start seeing pit stops as most of the top fifteen started on the softer tire. This tire overall seems to have a shorter life span even if a driver is not overdriving the tire. We are seeing drivers make another set of pit stops with roughly sixty-seven laps to go. At this time, Austin Dillon had almost caught Denny Hamlin. However, with other cars coming down pit road this made a choice for other drivers. It looked like Denny Hamlin had cleared Austin Dillon with the pit stop and it was not going to create an issue. With about thirty laps to go Austin Dillon caught Denny Hamlin once again. They went to battling for the lead. This battle took a few laps, but with just over a little twenty laps Austin Dillon was able to get around Denny Hamlin. Daniel Suarez has put the options tires on when he came down the last time. He is currently in six position and putting together some fast laps. With the number of laps to go even though he has the option tires on it does not appear he is going to make up enough time to get to the leader. Austin Dillon has just needs to ensure he is not the cause of a caution and hope that a caution does not come out for him to get his first win in 2024. He did not get his wish sadly as a wreck happened right in front of him. This wreck sends us into overtime and the leaders come down pit road for fresh tires. The restart goes at least three wide and Joey Logano gets the lead. There was some beating and banging between Joey Logano and Austin Dillon. Then Austin Dillon came down and clipped Denny Hamlin. This destroyed both Joey Logano’s and Denny Hamlin’s car. Austin Dillon is the unofficial winner at Richmond until inspection is completed.
