RCR Post Race Report – Ticket Galaxy 200

– Austin Dillon

“Phoenix presented us with challenges this weekend. We didn’t have the speed in our practice sessions on Friday, and we qualified 21st to get race day started. We took off pretty decently at the start of the race, though. I just needed more stability on entry and exit. We worked our way into the top 10 during the middle portion of the race. The front end didn’t turn how I needed it to, but Matt Swiderski and the team made adjustments to our Advil Liqui-Gels Minis Chevrolet to get us going in the right direction. I was just too loose to make something of it there at the end. I couldn’t take off on the restarts. I would have loved to have gotten this No. 3 team to Victory Lane in my last XFINITY Series race of the season, but it just wasn’t our day.”

“I’m just so proud of everybody at Richard Childress Racing – not just today, but all year. We’ve overcome so much as a group. A huge thanks to all of our partners that have stuck with us, kept believing in us, giving us faith and giving us everything we need to get to the racetrack every week. It all came down to a restart with 10 or 12 laps to go and everybody’s hearts are on the line and everybody’s season is on the line. I’m so proud of these guys. I’m glad we could prevail. It was our last race with Smokey Mountain Herbal Snuff on the car and I’m proud to give them a strong finish this weekend. To know that we could race like we did, race with the 00 (Cole Custer) there at the end knowing the points situation is great. I know we were both giving it all we could. We didn’t take a breath at all probably the last five or six laps. It’s been fun battling all of these guys all year. One lap, one moment,  that is what the NASCAR Playoffs are about. It’s really cool to know four Chevrolets are going to go for a championship at Homestead. Hats off to our manufacturer that supports us and gives us what we need to get to the racetrack. It’s been a while since Richard Childress Racing has been able to run for a championship, so I’m proud to be able to do it for them this year.”

“That was a hard-fought 15th place finish for the No. 33 PhoneSkope Chevrolet team. We had an early penalty for an uncontrolled tire, so we had to restart from the back of the field. Our Chevrolet struggled on handling throughout the day, firing off way too loose and then snugging up too much. It made it extremely tough to turn and pass other cars, but we just took it little by little today and managed to get back into the top 15 before the checkered flag came out. My guys worked hard all day to get back what we lost, and I can’t thank them enough for that.” 

“It was just one of those racing breaks. We were a little snug all day and that happens. Goodyear builds a great tire and we don’t push limits. Our accident was just one of those racing breaks. The boys did a good job recovering from our first pit stop and it was a great track position battle. We had a decent South Point Chevrolet. I feel confident we would have gotten a good solid ninth-, 10th-place finish, so I’ll take it. We’ll go on to Homestead and get more points.”