NASCAR: Austin Dillon leads Richard Childress Racing 1-2, wins at Texas

Austin Dillon secured his first NASCAR Cup Series victory since the 2018 Daytona 500 by winning the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

For the first time since he led only the final lap of the 2018 Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon drove his #3 Chevrolet to victory lane to secure his third career NASCAR Cup Series victory at Texas Motor Speedway.

Dillon’s victory in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 was also Richard Childress Racing’s first win since he won that Daytona 500, and he led a 1-2 finish for the team, as rookie Tyler Reddick finished in a career-high second place in his #8 Chevrolet. Dillon held off Reddick by 0.149 seconds to secure his fourth playoff berth in the last five seasons.

Richard Childress Racing had not recorded a 1-2 finish since Clint Bowyer won ahead of Jeff Burton at Talladega Superspeedway in October of 2011.

More from NASCAR Cup Series

Dillon won the 334-lap race around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) oval in Fort Worth, Texas after a late call under caution to take two tires put him on the front row for the ensuing restart aside of Reddick, who led the race after taking no tires.

Dillon took the lead from Reddick on that restart, and he held off Reddick on two subsequent restarts. The drivers in the second row giving the pushes for those restarts were Team Penske’s Joey Logano and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch, and they settled for third and fourth place in their #22 Ford and #18 Toyota, respectively.

This victory is Chevrolet’s third of the season and first since Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott won at Charlotte Motor Speedway in late May.

Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick finished in fifth place in his #4 Ford ahead of Joe Gibbs Racing’s Erik Jones in sixth in his #20 Toyota.

Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney dominated the race, leading more laps than anybody else with 150 laps led and winning the first two stages. But he made his last pit stop prior to the final caution flag period and got caught a lap off the lead lap because of it. He was only able to battle back for a seventh place finish in his #12 Ford.

This marks seven races in which Blaney has led more than 100 laps throughout his career. The four-time race winner has zero wins in those seven races.

Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kurt Busch, Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Aric Almirola, who started the race from the pole position and had to battle back from a pit lane blend line violation, rounded out the top 10 in eighth, ninth and 10th place in their #1 Chevrolet, #2 Ford and #10 Ford, respectively.

This race featured an impressive 29 lead changes, which is tied for the highest at the track since the April race in 2011 featured 31. A total of 12 drivers led the race. Dillon won the race after started in 21st place and leading 22 laps.

Aside of Dillon and Blaney, the 10 drivers who led the race were Harvick, Almirola, Logano, Keselowski, Reddick, Jones, Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin as well as Wood Brothers Racing’s Matt DiBenedetto.

This race also featured 10 caution flag periods, three of which were planned (one competition caution and two caution flag periods to end the first two stages).

Of the seven non-planned caution flag periods, six took place in the final stage, including a massive pileup on the front straightaway that involved several contenders and brought out a red flag. Of the 40 drivers who competed in the race, 32 finished and 18 finished on the lead lap.

Here are the full race results of the 2020 O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

Race Results
1st – Austin Dillon
2nd – Tyler Reddick
3rd – Joey Logano
4th – Kyle Busch
5th – Kevin Harvick
6th – Erik Jones
7th – Ryan Blaney
8th – Kurt Busch
9th – Brad Keselowski
10th – Aric Almirola
11th – Clint Bowyer
12th – Chase Elliott
13th – Ryan Newman
14th – Bubba Wallace
15th – Michael McDowell
16th – Corey LaJoie
17th – Matt DiBenedetto
18th – Matt Kenseth
19th – Chris Buescher
20th – Denny Hamlin
21st – Christopher Bell
22nd – John Hunter Nemechek
23rd – Daniel Suarez
24th – J.J. Yeley
25th – Gray Gaulding
26th – Jimmie Johnson
27th – Brennan Poole
28th – Reed Sorenson
29th – Martin Truex Jr.
30th – Alex Bowman
31st – Josh Bilicki
32nd – Joey Gase
33rd – B.J. McLeod
34th – Quin Houff
35th – Ty Dillon
36th – Timmy Hill
37th – William Byron
38th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
39th – Cole Custer
40th – Ryan Preece

Next. Top 10 NASCAR drivers of all-time. dark

The 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season is now halfway over, and the first race of the second half is scheduled to take place this Thursday, July 23 at Kansas Speedway. This race, the Super Start Batteries 400, is set to be broadcast live on NBC Sports Network beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Home/NASCAR Cup Series