Thirteen laps into Sunday’s race, Austin Dillon lost control of his car and collected the No. 36 Chevrolet of J.J. Yeley.
Dillon wasn’t driving just any car. He was behind the wheel of the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet SS, subbing for injured Tony Stewart for the first time.
Dillon, however, rallied from the mishap, regained a lap he lost speeding on pit road in an attempt to stay ahead of the pace car and ultimately finished a creditable 14th. More important, he kept the No. 14 in the running for a spot in the owners’ Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
“I definitely scared myself at the beginning,” Dillon said. “It was too early to be wrecking out there. I apologized to the No. 36 team and J.J. Yeley. I didn’t mean to get into them like that at all. I just grabbed the brakes and locked them down in the rear, couldn’t steer out of it.
“Luckily, we had saved enough car where we could work on it, get some track position. (Crew chief) Steve (Addington) made some great calls on track position. I can’t say enough about those guys (the crew). They did a great job.”
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