Texas II: Austin Dillon race report

Challenging Night for Austin Dillon in Texas

FORT WORTH, Texas (November 5, 2010) -- A cut tire just 42 laps into Friday night's 147-lap NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway created a challenging night for Austin Dillon and Richard Childress Racing's No. 3 Bass Pro Shops team, resulting in a disappointing 25th-place finish.

With just two races remaining this season, Dillon remains fifth in the NCWTS championship point standings, 84 points in arrears to Matt Crafton in fourth. He leads the Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings.

The No. 3 team's race weekend began with a pair of practice sessions on Thursday, with Dillon posting the second- and third-fastest times in the two sessions.

During qualifying on Thursday evening, Dillon earned a sixth-place starting spot for Friday's race with a 30.109 second lap around the 1.5-mile track at a speed of 179.348 mph.

An estimated 58,500 race fans withstood a chilly fall evening to watch a 36-truck starting field take the green flag at Texas Motor Speedway. Dillon started the WinStar World Casino 350k from sixth position, and engaged in two- and three-wide racing around the 1.5-mile speedway at the beginning of the race, despite a tight-handling Chevrolet.

He was running fifth on lap 41, when he suddenly reported to crew chief Danny Stockman that the No. 3 was extremely tight. Afraid that a tire was going down, Dillon tried to get to pit road, but the right-front tire burst before he could do so. The tire ripped the right-front fender off of the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet, and Dillon limped to pit road so that the RCR crew could start the repair process.

Repairs to the right-front fender proved lengthy and, as a result, Dillon lost five laps on pit road before rejoining the field just as green flag racing resumed on lap 48.

The team made four additional pit stops for tires and to evaluate the repairs to the fender over the course of the next 100 laps. However, he was unable to get back on the lead lap and finished 25th, seven laps down.

Kyle Busch earned his 23rd NCWTS victory by just 0.386 seconds over Johnny Sauter. Matt Crafton was third, followed by Todd Bodine and Elliott Sadler.

The next NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race is the Phoenix 150 at Phoenix International Raceway on Friday, November 12th.

AUSTIN DILLON: "That was disappointing, but I'm proud of the guys on the Bass Pro Shops team for their efforts because I know it was not an easy fix for them on pit road. That fender was pretty beat up. I could hear something that sounded a little bit odd, and the truck got really tight all of a sudden, so I tried to make it down pit road but the tire exploded before I could get there."

-source: rcr