Sep
23rd
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Although Austin Dillon didn't dominate Saturday's Nationwide race at Kentucky Speedway as he did in June, the final result was the same - a victory.
In late June he led 192 laps of the 200 lap race. This time it was merely 65 laps led, and he did win the pole.
"This one wasn't easy," Dillon said "there were a lot of good teams out here. These guys built an awesome race car. We brought the same car back (from the June victory) and we adjusted on it. I know the track and the car worked well. I got on and off pit good and that got us the lead."
Sam Hornish Jr. finished second and Brendon Gaughan third.
Dillon's teammate, Elliott Sadler retook the Nationwide Series points lead with a fifth place finish, while Ricky Stenhouse Jr. who won last week's race at Chicago fell to second place, due to a 17th place finish, four points behind due to a number of misfortunes.
Stenhouse Jr. led the opening 32 laps of the race, and then his luck turned sour due to damage during a competition caution pit stop on Lap 33 and to add insult to injury he scraped the outside retaining wall 10 laps later.
"Our first mistake was on pit road," Stenhouse said. "The No. 14 (Eric McClure) came in there and knocked the right front end, which put us back in the pack. Then, we don't handle very well, and I got loose and into the wall which cut a tire down. It was just one thing after another, but we rebounded to a 17th place finish.
"Seriously fun race, but we just made too many mistakes. We'll make it back up though, no problem. We have a strong team. Mike Kelley (his Crew Chief) and the guys are doing an awesome job. We still had one of the strongest cars at the end of the race after fixing it, so we'll go get them next weekend," Stenhouse Jr., said.
Sadler failed to capitalize to an even greater extent due to a mechanical issue late in the race. "We just lost power steering," Sadler said.
"Nobody could touch us today we were so freaking fast, but about 10 laps before that last green flag pit stop with about 50 laps to go, I lost power steering and the car was really locking up on me. It wouldn't go left, it wouldn't go right. I couldn't correct the car, so I really had to drive it safe and straight into the corners."
"It's all about drive and how bad you want it, and we really want this championship right now. I think it's a three-man race between myself, Stenhouse Jr., and Elliott. It's going to go down to the wire," Dillon said.
In late June he led 192 laps of the 200 lap race. This time it was merely 65 laps led, and he did win the pole.
"This one wasn't easy," Dillon said "there were a lot of good teams out here. These guys built an awesome race car. We brought the same car back (from the June victory) and we adjusted on it. I know the track and the car worked well. I got on and off pit good and that got us the lead."
Sam Hornish Jr. finished second and Brendon Gaughan third.
Dillon's teammate, Elliott Sadler retook the Nationwide Series points lead with a fifth place finish, while Ricky Stenhouse Jr. who won last week's race at Chicago fell to second place, due to a 17th place finish, four points behind due to a number of misfortunes.
Stenhouse Jr. led the opening 32 laps of the race, and then his luck turned sour due to damage during a competition caution pit stop on Lap 33 and to add insult to injury he scraped the outside retaining wall 10 laps later.
"Our first mistake was on pit road," Stenhouse said. "The No. 14 (Eric McClure) came in there and knocked the right front end, which put us back in the pack. Then, we don't handle very well, and I got loose and into the wall which cut a tire down. It was just one thing after another, but we rebounded to a 17th place finish.
"Seriously fun race, but we just made too many mistakes. We'll make it back up though, no problem. We have a strong team. Mike Kelley (his Crew Chief) and the guys are doing an awesome job. We still had one of the strongest cars at the end of the race after fixing it, so we'll go get them next weekend," Stenhouse Jr., said.
Sadler failed to capitalize to an even greater extent due to a mechanical issue late in the race. "We just lost power steering," Sadler said.
"Nobody could touch us today we were so freaking fast, but about 10 laps before that last green flag pit stop with about 50 laps to go, I lost power steering and the car was really locking up on me. It wouldn't go left, it wouldn't go right. I couldn't correct the car, so I really had to drive it safe and straight into the corners."
"It's all about drive and how bad you want it, and we really want this championship right now. I think it's a three-man race between myself, Stenhouse Jr., and Elliott. It's going to go down to the wire," Dillon said.