Race Highlights:
- Richard Childress Racing teammates Ryan Newman, Austin Dillon and Paul Menard finished third, 12th and 14th, respectively.
- Newman is second in the Sprint Cup Series championship point standings, while Dillon ranks 19th and Menard ranks 21st.
- Dale Earnhardt, Jr. earned his fourth victory of the 2014 season and was followed to the finish line by Jeff Gordon, Newman, Tony Stewart and Joey Logano.
- The next Sprint Cup Series race is the AAA 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday, November 2, which is scheduled to be televised live on ESPN beginning at 3 p.m. Eastern Time and is scheduled to be broadcast live on the Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Satellite Radio, channel 90.
Austin Dillon Earns 12th-Place Finish in Short Track Thriller at Martinsville Speedway
Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon drove the No. 3 Dow Chevrolet to a 12th-place finish on Sunday afternoon at Martinsville Speedway, surviving a caution-filled event that was marred by two red flags to secure his highest finish at the paperclip-shaped short track. The Welcome, N.C. driver started 19th and noted a tight-handling Chevrolet SS from the start of the race, a condition that plagued the driver throughout the 500-lap race. Crew chief Gil Martin remedied the problems the driver was facing during routine pit stops for right-rear wedge, tires and fuel. Dillon was running 20th when he masterfully avoided a multi-car pileup that occurred directly in front of him on lap 436, bringing out the red flag so NASCAR and track officials could clear debris from the racing surface. Dillon pitted before green-flag racing resumed on lap 442 with the No. 3 team scored in the 18th spot. With fresh tires, Dillon advanced to 12th in the running order before another multi-car incident caused a second red flag on lap 488. Once again, the team opted to pit before the restart, positioning Dillon 15th with five laps of green-flag racing remaining and ultimately secured a 12th-place finish in the Dow Chevrolet
Start -19th Finish – 12th Laps Led – 0 Points – 19th
“I’m really proud of everyone at RCR today. I was hoping to pass the No. 34 at the very end there to gain one more position and finish 11th, but a 12th-place finish – hey we’ll take it. It was a true team effort. I want to congratulate Ryan Newman and the 31 team on their top-three finish in the first race of the Eliminator round of the Chase.”
Paul Menard finishes 14th at Martinsville Speedway in the Richmond/Menards Chevrolet SS
Paul Menard drove Richard Childress Racing’s No. 27 Richmond/Menards Chevrolet SS to a 14th-place finish in Sunday’s 500-lap race at Martinsville Speedway. The RCR driver started 14th and maintained a top 15 position until a green-flag pit stop on lap 77. Crew chief Justin Alexander called for four tires, fuel, track bar and air pressure adjustments to remedy the car’s tight-handling condition. Menard visited pit road eight additional times for four tires, fuel and a combination of track bar and wedge adjustments to help handling conditions. Throughout the duration of the 263-mile event, Menard narrowly missed multiple wrecks and sustained only minimal damage when a car made contact with the right front fender. The Eau Claire, Wisc.-native battled a tight-handling Chevrolet, but with great calls by Alexander and spotter Stevie Reeves, was able to finish where he started in 14th. Up next for the No. 27 team is Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.
Start – 14th Finish – 14th Laps Led – 0 Points – 21st
PAUL MENARD QUOTE:
“We had a fast Richmond/Menards Chevy this weekend. Probably one of the best we’ve had here. We lost drive off and fought a tight-handling car, but the guys made good adjustments throughout the race. We’ll focus on Texas now.”
Ryan Newman and the No. 31 Quicken Loans Team Finish Third at Martinsville Speedway
After starting ninth in the 500-lap race at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday, Ryan Newman and the No. 31 Quicken Loans Chevrolet team overcome a tight-handling car and a pit road speeding penalty early in the race to earn a hard-fought, third-place finish. This was the first of three races in the Eliminator Round of the Chase to the Championship and his finish places him second in points, three markers behind the leader Jeff Gordon. During the early portions of the race, Newman fell down in the running order as he battled a tight-handling Chevrolet. Crew chief Luke Lambert utilized several pit stops to add spring rubbers and rounds of wedge to obtain more balance through the tight turns of Martinsville. On lap 191, Newman was caught speeding on pit road under caution and had to line-up at the end of the longest line as a penalty. This put him in 31st place for the lap-206 restart. Several more cautions aided in him moving up the running order and he returned to the top-15 by lap 227. From there, it was a race up the scoring pylon as Neman maintained and picked up positions as the laps ticked down to 500. Two red flags slowed the pace of the race, but not the determination of Newman and the No. 31 team. After another caution with 10 to go, Lambert called Newman to pit road for two right-side tires and fuel on lap 493. This lined him up eighth with five laps remaining. On the restart, Newman starting earning spots on each lap to earn a third-place finish. This was the team’s fourth top-five and 15th top-10 finish in 2014.
Start -9th Finish – 3rd Laps Led – 0 Points – 2nd
RYAN NEWMAN QUOTE:
“This was a great finish for the No. 31 Quicken Loans Chevrolet team. I put us a bit behind there with that pit road penalty, which is something rare for me to do. But, we managed to race our way out of that and get back to the top-15 and top-10 and then put us in a good place for this finish. Those last five laps were pretty intense and I’m glad we came out of it how we did, it could have been big there and I was expecting another caution. Second in points is good, but we still have two more races before we get to Homestead (Miami Speedway) and Texas (Motor Speedway) is our next focus.”
RCR PR
