Austin Dillon and No. 3 American Ethanol Team Battle Through Tough Southern 500 to Top-10 Finish
Finish: 10th
Start: 14th
Points: 23rd
“This is just the night we needed at Darlington Raceway. My crew chief Danny Stockman and the team did a great job all night working on the handling of our No. 3 American Ethanol Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, and it paid off. The track loosened up a lot more than we expected tonight, so we had to adjust for that and figure out which groove on the track worked for us with that handling. Towards the end of the final stage, we really hit on it and I was able to run the bottom really well. I never could get the top groove to come in for me without being too loose up, but since I was able to make passes on the bottom, I wasn’t too worried about it. We kept ourselves out of trouble when others started to have issues at the end of the race and were able to capitalize with a top-10 finish. This team is more than capable to do this every week, and this is a good way to build momentum heading into Indy. I also want to thank American Ethanol for letting us run my grandfather’s paint scheme tonight. It was really special to carry his colors on the track.” -Austin Dillon
Late-Race Contact Leads to Cut Tire for Daniel Hemric and No. 8 Caterpillar Chevrolet at Darlington Raceway
Finish: 37th
Start: 18th
Points: 25th
“I’m really proud of this team, but I’m kind of at a loss of words. Our No. 8 Caterpillar Chevrolet got better and better throughout the last half of the race and we were moving through the field. I felt like we had a top-10 car in the final stage until the contact with the No. 6 car, which cut the right rear tire. I hate so many other cars were involved. That incident damaged something under the hood and ended our night. Everyone at RCR is working as hard as possible to get better and it will pay off. Tonight was just not our night. I know we’ll show up to Indianapolis next week stronger than before. Thank you to Caterpillar for the awesome scheme for Throwback weekend, and to all of the fans that waited through the weather today at Darlington.” -Daniel Hemric
