Austin Dillon passed Johnny Sauter with 23 laps to go and did not look back, winning Friday night’s Lucas Deep Clean 200 Camping World Truck Series race at Nashville Superspeedway for his first trip to Victory Lane this season.
Dillon, who won two races in 2010, picked up his third career win and his first since Sept. 2010 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Starting the race from the pole position, Dillon made a gutsy call with 46 laps to go, when on a yellow-flag pit stop he opted to take two tires while much of the field changed all four, and pulled into the lead on the restart.
Three laps later, he was overtaken by Sauter, but pulled ahead again on Lap 128 and gained a wide margin to win by 3.981 seconds. He then attempted a celebratory slide through the grass to a loud and approving grandstand crowd, but comically couldn’t slide very far. NASCAR.com
“I may have to get a massage this week. Somebody called me a scorpion, though. That’s pretty cool. It was fun. I just dove and laid there.”
Mike Dillon, Austin’s father, added: “You need to talk to Carl Edwards about some tumbling.”
The younger Dillon said he might have to work on his new celebration.
“I might get the guys to bring out a Slip ’N Slide or something,” he said. “I am a professional Slip ’N Slider at the house. I might do like a regular slide into a base instead of headfirst. That might be better.” The Tennessean
“This is awesome; Nashville is the place,” Dillon said. “[Crew chief] Danny Stockman made the call for two tires there at the end. I get two tires and [Sauter] gets four. He got me on that restart, but I just stayed with it. I just had to go when it was time to go.”
Dillon became the fourth driver in a row to start on the pole and win a truck race at Nashville.
With the win, Dillon moved to within 18 points of Sauter.
“We just came up a little short,” Sauter said. “I was just loose all night, and [Dillon] got there and got me a little free, and he won the race. It was a good night for us with second place. We’ll just try to build on it.” MiamiHerald.com
Peters looked to have the dominant truck leading a race-high 67 laps until a caution on lap 102 for debris on the track. Peters suffered a slow pit stop and dropped to fifth after building a 7-second lead to that point.
“We missed it on the right rear. I don’t know what happened,” said Peters, who finished third. “He might have slipped coming around the back of the truck. It’s an honest mistake that came at the wrong time.”
Nelson Piquet Jr. was the highest finishing rookie in fourth place. Fellow rookie Parker Kligerman rounded out the top five. USA Today
Click Here to Read More:
NASCAR Truck Series: Lucas Deep Clean 200 at Nashville - Race Results
| 
|