Catchfence

Irwindale, Calif. (January 27, 2009): Austin Dillon and his Lance Deiters-led Shell-Pennzoil race team didn’t have much time to find a race-winning set-up for the All-Star Showdown Saturday night. Rain halted all but five laps of practice, and teams could only hope the combination they brought was good enough to get to victory lane. Deiters stepped up to the challenge with a solid set-up, but a lap 153 accident forced the team to park the car for the night and settle with a 30th place finish.

The event, which featured drivers from all of NASCAR’s touring divisions including entrants from the Cup and Truck Series, was squeezed into a single day after rain halted all but one 45-minute practice session the night before. Qualifying took place just two hours before driver introductions with Dillon turning a lap of 97.046 mph for a 19th place starting spot.

Dillon wheeled the Shell-Pennzoil Chevy up to 10th during the first 100-lap segment, but dropped back to 21st before the mandatory 10-minute break, when teams could make adjustments to their cars. The team was confident for the second 100-lap segment, but bad luck was just around the corner.

Dillon had worked his way up to 10th for a lap 142 restart when Ron Hornaday drove into the leader Brian Ickler. Cars scrambled everywhere and Dillon got caught up in the wreck. The Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet had been hit twice before he made it to pit road. Deiter and his crew patched up the damage and got him back in the race for the restart.

Less than ten laps later, Dillon was in the wrong place at the wrong time when polesitter Chris Johnson got turned around. Dillon went high to try and avoid, but Johnson spun up the track and collected the Shell-Pennzoil machine. Dillon got it fired back up again, but the damage was extensive and the team had to park it for the night.

DRIVER QUOTE

“The guys did a great job getting the No. 3 Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet put back together, and I had a really good car even after it was wrecked the first time. On that last one, I couldn’t get out of the way and I just got pulled right into that mess. The car was pretty tore up and we were shot. We really wanted to win this one, and I really love the racetrack. It’s definitely a driver’s racetrack. I wish the East Series ran out here a little more often.”