RCR Post Race Report – Drive for the Cure 300

– Austin Dillon

“After practice on Friday, we knew that there was work to be done on our Advil Liqui-Gels Minis Chevrolet. The team made changes that got us going in the right direction, and we were definitely more competitive when the race got underway. I was loose on entry and tight on exit to start, but my handling didn’t get worse through the run like others. We took advantage of an early caution to flip the stage and get a jump on adjustments. It didn’t work exactly how we wanted it to at the start of Stage 2, but it didn’t hurt our track position from where we were before the pit stop. Our Camaro was just too loose in the last two stages to get further ahead, though. We tried to beat the field on fuel mileage, and, if the race had gone green after our last stop, we would have been one of the only teams that could make it on fuel. The odds just weren’t in our favor and we didn’t have enough there at the end once the field had fresher tires.”

“I’m really proud of everyone on this Anderson’s Maple Syrup Chevrolet team. Everyone at RCR stepped up and really handled the adversity that we faced this week head on and came out strong in the end. We’ll just continue on and do what we did in the first round of the Playoffs for the next three races in this Round of 8. I’ve got to do a better job on the restarts and I’ve got to make sure we get all we can get out of the weekend. Once I lost a little bit of track position on the restarts tonight it really hurt us. I apologize to my guys for that. I’m really pumped up about how we’ve made strides with our mile-and-a-half program over the last few months. We’re going the right direction. We’ve got to get better, I’ve got to get better, but I’m confident we can be a part of this championship fight.”

“We had a fast No. 33 Nexteer Chevrolet Camaro tonight. This was my first weekend working with Brandon Thomas as a crew chief, and he did a great job getting the car dialed in for me during those two practice sessions on Friday. When we finally got to race on Saturday, I didn’t have as much rear grip as I wanted to fire off with. Brandon did a great job of making adjustments that really helped me gain more grip and cut through traffic easily. We had a slight miscue on pit road during our first stop of the night and received an uncontrolled tire penalty, but the boys didn’t let that get to them and kept their heads in the game for the rest of the night. My car was so good in traffic that it didn’t take me long to make those spots up. Overall, it was a solid night for the No. 33 team. I tried everything to get by Ryan Reed at the end there to help our teammate Brendan Gaughan get into the Round of 8 but just couldn’t get all the way clear of him in time.”

“At the start of the race we must have had a bad set of tires. We fell all the way back to 26th position before the end of Stage 1. I was holding on for dear life.  Nothing ever comes easy for me and crew chief Shane Wilson. But to be honest, we wouldn’t want it any other way. We gave it all we had. There is a reason why Ryan Reed and I were so close in points and all year on the track. It came down to two positions on the track. Ty Dillon came down and took those tires early and when I saw him fade quick, I knew that was trouble for us. He was right in between us all night long and we needed him to stay between us, but he just faded. We were faster than Ryan but unfortunately not fast enough to get anybody else. We were gaining on the No. 1, and we needed Brandon Jones to get in front of Ryan ,but hey, it was a good run. We’ve had a decent season. I wouldn’t say great, but we are going to go on and see if we can’t win a couple of races in the South Point Chevrolet.”