Catchfence

Austin Dillon brought Richard Childress Racing’s No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet to Victory Lane in NASCAR Camping World Truck Series competition at Nashville Superspeedway on Friday night. Shortly after a two-tire pit stop that helped the team secure track position, the 21-year-old NCWTS sophomore made a pass for the lead inside of 25 laps remaining to earn his first NCWTS win of 2011 and third of his young career.

After struggling with race setups during the first practice session of the day on Friday morning, crew chief Danny Stockman made sweeping changes to the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet late during final practice on Friday afternoon that helped the team secure the fastest speed in final practice. Dillon went on to earn his third pole award of the season, and the 10th of his career.

Starting the 150-lap, 200-mile race from the point position, Dillon jumped to a commanding lead early in the race before slipping to third in the running order after developing a tight-handling condition. When green-flag pit stops began to cycle through on lap 56, Dillon brought the black No. 3 Chevrolet down pit road for four Goodyear tires, Sunoco fuel and adjustments designed to help the handling of the truck.

The changes worked, and Dillon posted the fastest laps of the field in subsequent laps, while still running in the third position. A caution for debris on lap 101 provided the opportune time for teams to make their final pit stop of the night, and Stockman opted to make a two-tire pit stop in order to secure track position. The decision proved solid as Dillon was positioned in the lead for the lap-106 restart, but fell back to second when green-flag racing resumed.

He spent the next 15 laps tracking down race leader Johnny Sauter, and was able to make a move on lap 128, slipping past the veteran driver and current point leader to take control of the race. Once in clean air, Dillon drove to a commanding lead and crossed the finish line 3.981 seconds ahead of his nearest competitor.

AUSTIN DILLON QUOTES:

“It was all about sticking with the race leader (Johnny Sauter) as long as I could to keep the pressure on. I knew he was getting looser and looser and I finally had to get up in there with him and loosen him up a little more, and when it happened we just went on. It’s just so great to have a win. When you get a win, everything just seems to be a lot easier.”

“I’ve been talking about this guitar all week. They said in the driver’s meeting today that it was voted one of the 10 coolest trophies by Sports Illustrated. It’s just a beautiful trophy.”

CREW CHIEF DANNY STOCKMAN QUOTE:

“I looked at all the tire wears all day and the tires weren’t wearing, and I knew if we had track position and clean air, we were going to go. When it came down to it, we didn’t even have clean air and we still won. Tires weren’t an issue tonight.”

- Richard Childress Racing Press Release