The last time he won in a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race was in the inaugural 1-800-CarCash Mudsummer Classic on the dirt track at Eldora Speedway. Austin Dillon was able to taste victory again Saturday afternoon in the Pocono Mountains 150 at Pocono Raceway.
A green-white-checkered restart allowed Dillon to get out front and claim the win in the No. 3 Yuengling Light Lager Chevrolet for Richard Childress.
It was a rather quick 60 laps on the day – even though NASCAR added 10 laps to the race.
Pole-sitter Kyle Larson had the early lead and had a good pace on the field until a caution would shake up the leaders. Larson would restart eighth after a round of pit stops on lap 22. He would soon charge to the front to battle Dillon for the lead on lap 28. Larson would assume the lead after Dillon pitted on lap 30 in a round of green flag pit stops. It would be a few laps later when Larson started to experience engine trouble. He would have speed in the corners but lost momentum in the draft.
Different pit strategies would play out until a caution on lap 46 would put the front runners back in the lead. At that time, Dillon was able to get back to the front with Clint Bowyer close behind. After two late-race restarts, Dillon was able to hold off Bowyer to get the win.
Tyler Reddick and German Quiroga were involved in an accident on lap 153. Reddick was running underneath Quiroga and got loose and got into Quiroga. Quiroga was trying to right his truck when they collided and Reddick spun. Both trucks sustained damage. That set up a restart in which Reddick was behind Quiroga. A lap into the restart Reddick got into Tyler Young and went after Quiroga in what appeared to be an act of retaliation. Another caution was called and Reddick was ordered by NASCAR to park and report to the hauler.
Ryan Blaney was able to finish in the top five and extend his points lead by three. He now leads Johnny Sauter by seven points in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series points.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Clint Bowyer subbed in the No. 5 Zaxby’s truck for an ailing John Wes Townley. Townley had gotten into an accident in ARCA Series practice on Friday afternoon. He was at the race in the box during Saturday’s race. According to his Twitter account, Townley will be out of a race car for a week. Bowyer finished fourth in the race.
The top ten in Saturday’s race: Austin Dillon, Johnny Sauter, Joey Coulter, Clint Bowyer, Ryan Blaney, Erik Jones, Ron Hornaday Jr., Darrell Wallace Jr.,
Justin Lofton, and Joe Nemechek.
The next NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race will be the Careers for Veterans 200 on Saturday, Aug. 16 at 12:30 p.m. ET at Michigan International Speedway.
