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Austin Dillon gambles on mileage, earns first Cup Series win in Coca-Cola 600

By Nick Tylwalk

CHARLOTTE, NC - MAY 28: Austin Dillon, driver of the #3 DOW Salutes Veterans Chevrolet, leads Erik Jones, driver of the #77 5-Hour ENERGY Extra Strength Toyota, during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 28, 2017 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images)
CHARLOTTE, NC - MAY 28: Austin Dillon, driver of the #3 DOW Salutes Veterans Chevrolet, leads Erik Jones, driver of the #77 5-Hour ENERGY Extra Strength Toyota, during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 28, 2017 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images) /
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Austin Dillon outlasted the field and Mother Nature to claim victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The Coca-Cola 600 was on its way to becoming the Martin Truex Jr. Invitational. Kyle Busch also had a fast car and a shot to win. But a lot of things can happen over 600 miles.

On Sunday night, those things included a lengthy rain delay and a number of drivers who gambled on fuel strategy. Jimmie Johnson ran out of gas in the closing laps but Austin Dillon did not, finishing ahead of a charging Busch and Truex for his first career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory.

It appeared destined to be a battle between the 78 and 18, who were the class of the field for big chunks of the night. However, a number of cars that pitted with 60-plus laps to go and stayed out when the leaders pitted with under 40 to go tried to make it the rest of the way. One of those was Dillon’s No. 3 Chevrolet, inheriting the lead when Johnson’s 48 came up just short on its own fuel mileage gamble.

Dillon hasn’t run consistently well in 2017, entering the Coca-Cola 600 22nd in points. But unless he stumbles so hard that he falls past 30th, he’ll be in the playoffs this fall.

Busch, who had some momentum on his side after claiming a $1 million victory in the Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race, showed he had some speed left over for the CMS track by claiming a Stage 1 win. That wasn’t the big talking point from the first 100 laps, though, as Jeffrey Earnhardt’s disintegrating car knocked a hole in Chase Elliott’s No. 24. That, in turn, spread oil on the track and caused Brad Keselowski to plow into him, knocking both men out of the race early.

The Stage 2 winner wasn’t determined for several hours thanks to a lengthy weather-related red flag period. After racing resumed, it was Truex who led a record-setting amount of laps in 2016, who made it to the green and checkered flag first.

Truex looked like he was going to cruise to a Stage 3 victory as well, but Kyle Larson hit the wall for the second time in the race to bring out a caution with eight laps to go. Denny Hamlin restarted in second after yellow flag pit stops with four laps to go, and he just managed to beat teammates Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth for the stage win, followed by fellow Toyota drivers Truex and Jones.

Next: See what happened to Elliott, Keselowski on Coca-Cola 600

In the end, the closing laps still ended up tense as Truex and Busch were running much faster than the gamblers and appeared as though they would catch Johnson and Dillon with just a few laps left. That never happened, and as Truex was left to rue leading the most laps of the Coca-Cola 600 three straight years and seeing two of those races slip through his fingertips because of fuel mileage, Dillon will celebrate his first trip to Victory Lane in NASCAR’s top series.

Here’s how the top 10 looked when a memorable Coca-Cola 600 finally ended:

  1. Austin Dillon
  2. Kyle Busch
  3. Martin Truex Jr.
  4. Matt Kenseth
  5. Denny Hamlin
  6. Kurt Busch
  7. Erik Jones
  8. Kevin Harvick
  9. Ryan Newman
  10. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
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