Austin Dillon Earns Hard Fought Eighth-Place Finish at Richmond International Raceway

NASCAR XFINITY Series – ToyotaCare 250
April 24, 2015 – Richmond International Raceway, Richmond VA

Austin Dillon and the No. 33 Ruud Chevrolet team finished eighth at Richmond International Raceway on Friday night despite battling a tight-handling race car for the majority of the 250-lap event. Within the first five laps of the race, Dillon improved his positon by six spots but soon reported a tight-handling condition developing on the No. 33 Chevrolet. Crew chief Nick Harrison called the Welcome, N.C., native to pit road under green flag conditions on lap 207 for the final stop of the night. The Ruud pit crew serviced the No. 33 machine with four fresh tires, fuel and a round of chassis adjustments to combat the tight-handling Chevrolet. Dillon rejoined the racing surface in the 17th position, two laps down to the leader. As the green-flag pit stops cycled through the field, Dillon gained his laps back and was able to advance in the running order to the seventh position. The tight-handling condition returned and Dillon slipped one position, to eighth, before the checkered flag waved.

We had a really fast Ruud Chevrolet today. We showed a lot of speed there in the beginning of the run, but it seemed like the more rubber that we laid down on the track, the tighter the car got throughout the night. Nick (Harrison, crew chief) and the guys made some good adjustments, we just didn’t make them big enough there at the end of the race. – Austin Dillon

Start – 13, Finish – 8, Laps Led – 0, Owner’s Points – 7