Austin Dillon and Richard Childress Racing’s No. 3 Dow Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Team Earn 16th-Place Finish in Daytona 500 Despite Stage 3 Wreck
Finish: 16th
Start: 20th
Points: 19th
“I thought we had a shot at winning back-to-back Daytona 500’s but we were involved in an accident in the Dow Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 during Stage 3. It is what it is. Daytona is really hard. You have to position yourselves to miss the wrecks and we didn’t do as good of a job as we did last year. We were running in the middle lane with about 25 laps remaining and the wreck happened so fast I didn’t have time to react. There was smoke and then we were just in it. Maybe we could have made it through if we were in the bottom lane but everything just happened so fast. After the wreck, we didn’t give up. We kept fighting, and that’s a testament to how hard we work at RCR. I’m looking forward to the rest of the season with Danny Stockman and the guys on the No. 3 team.”
-Austin Dillon
Daniel Hemric Collected in ‘Big One’ After Leading Laps with No. 8 Bass Pro Shops/Caterpillar Chevrolet in First Daytona 500
Finish: 34th
Start: 29th
Points: 32nd
“This No. 8 team has busted their tails over the last two weeks trying to prepare for the Daytona 500. It was good to lead a few laps and run up front at times. I thought we were in good shape on the second to last restart before the crash. We lined up sixth and we got hung up behind a car that had damage and it drug the whole top line back. You get that accordion effect on corner entry and I saw the No. 95 get turned around at the front of the field and at that point there was a road block across the track. You’re trying to make moves in the pack, but you’re going so fast and everyone is trying to get to the end of the race and there is just nowhere to go. I hate it for everyone on this Bass Pro Shops / Caterpillar Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 team. The car was damaged but we were still going to be able to finish, but NASCAR told us to park it for moving under the red. The car rolled down the banking and moved away from the incident so they could get to the other wrecked cars. At the end of the day, we will count our blessings and go on to Atlanta.”
-Daniel Hemric
Tyler Reddick and the No. 31 SYMBICORT® (budesonide/formoterol fumarate dihydrate) Team Battle Through Multiple Obstacles, Succumb to Damage from Late-Race ‘Big One’
Finish: 27th
Start: 39th
Points: N/A
“Man, that’s a bummer. We had a really good No. 31 SYMBICORT (budesonide/formoterol fumarate dihydrate) Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 today. The team worked hard Friday and Saturday after the duels to get it handling better, and we had it in a good spot to start the race. I really had no complaints about it other than it being a little tight. We got caught up in someone else’s mess coming to pit road with around 40 laps to go and got some heavy damage in the rear, but my team did a great job getting our Camaro put back together. It really was handling almost as good as new before the ‘Big One’ struck. Unfortunately the damage then was just too much and it cut our race short. I can’t thank RCR and AstraZeneca enough for the chance to make my first Cup Series start in the Daytona 500. I clearly wish it ended better, but I’m grateful for the opportunity.”
-Tyler Reddick
