In only his second start at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Ty Dillon took the famed black No. 3 car of his grandfather, Richard Childress, to victory lane in Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) Lilly Diabetes 250.
The race was Dillon’s 31st NNS start and he also won the “Dash 4 Cash,” pocketing an extra $100,000 bonus for the win.
The Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet started in the third position and ran among the leaders most of the day before leading the final 24 laps of the race. Dillon lost his air conditioning in the opening laps of the race and said afterwards, “I was definitely pushed. My AC went out before I think we even took the green, so I could already feel it getting hot. I knew I could make it through it for sure, but when Kyle Busch is on you, pushing you as hard as you can go, that guy doesn’t mess up, so I knew I had to be perfect every lap. That definitely takes a lot more out of you.”
Busch, driving the No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota, led 10 laps before settling for a second place finish. Busch started the race from the pole but never led until later in the race before being overtaken by Dillon on a restart with 24 laps to go. When asked about the restart, Kyle said, “I slipped and he got right by me. Just drove right underneath me. That was the race right there. I could maintain with him. If I could have been out front I probably could have held him off.”
Matt Kenseth, driving the No. 20 Resers Toyota, started in the second position and finished third leading eight laps during the day. “The strategy was good. The caution fell at the right time and we could make it on fuel. We were a little off from the best couple cars, but we got our track position there and got a decent finish,” said Kenseth after the race.
Kevin Harvick started the race in the fourth position and finished in the same spot after leading the most laps in the No. 5 Morton Buildings Chevrolet. Harvick took the lead from Matt Kenseth early in the day and would lead three times for 33 laps.
Joey Logano finished in the fifth position driving the No. 22 Discount Tire Ford. After the race, Logano said, “Whoever gets out front is gonna win the race. That’s how this place is and that’s why strategy and restarts are so important to make up as much time as you can because it’s just one lane around here.” Logano led twice for 21 laps and was strong throughout the day.
Chase Elliott, who won his third race of the season last weekend and leads the series points standings by four over his teammate Regan Smith, finished in the 12th position. Smith finished in 10th place.
There were nine lead changes among six different drivers and a total of three cautions for 17 laps.
