Strange issue puts Austin Dillon multiple laps down before O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 starts

When Jeff Gordon, Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds say a mechanical issue is strange, you know it probably is.

Austin Dillon looked like he might have turned the corner on a slow start to his 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series last week at Martinsville. Through no fault of his own, he turned right back at the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, essentially seeing any chance of a good finish go down the drain before he even got his No. 3 Chevrolet out on the track.

You read that right: Dillon had an issue before the green flag even dropped, forcing him to return to the garage for repairs while the rest of the field was off and running. When he finally joined the other cars, Dillon was already 12 laps down.

The culprit? The left-side trailing arm, something that stumped the Fox Sports crew with Jeff Gordon wondering openly if any of his colleagues had ever seen that part fail prior to the start of a race.

The trailing arm is part of the rear suspension of a NASCAR race car. Unlike the track bar, which was the original guess by Gordon and company for what Dillon’s issue was, the trailing arm can affect the lateral position of a wheel. NASCAR officials as well as Dillon’s No. 3 crew members were under the car checking it out while it was repaired.

Because the problem was not caused by a crash, Dillon was not subject to the five-minute repair rule and was thus able to go to the garage and then get on the track once his car was ready to go. But one simply does not get 12 laps back, meaning that the best he can do now is put in as many laps as possible and hope some people crash out so he can grab a few extra points.

Next: What are the stage lengths at Texas Motor Speedway?

It’s another bummer for a team who can right now count a fifth-place finish at Martinsville as the lone 2017 highlight for now.