Up-And-Down Day for Austin Dillon and the Rheem Team Concludes with 28th-Place Finish at The Monster Mile
“It was definitely an up-and-down day in the Rheem Chevrolet today. We were running towards the front when we got sideways and made contact with the outside wall. That brought out the caution and created quite a bit of damage to the right side of the Rheem Chevy. It turned into a strategy race the rest of the day because we were short one set of tires for a while. We ended up getting caught back up and we were looking okay but the power steering line broke loose with less than 20 laps to go and we were unable to finish the race. I hate to leave Dover with a DNF but it’s not for a lack of effort. Everyone at RCR puts their all into this XFINITY program every single week.”
– Austin Dillon
Ty Dillon Finishes 10th in No. 3 Daniel Defense Chevrolet Debut at the Monster Mile
“It wasn’t the best day we’ve ever had at Dover. We took off way too loose to start the stage; just like how we did in qualifying this morning. We were able to make positive tire pressure and wedge adjustments during the first stage break, and that got us closer to where we needed to be. My team just had to keep tightening up our Daniel Defense Chevy throughout the race to get into the corner, but continuing to tighten our entry really hurt our ability to roll through the center. I lost valuable track position in the last segment, but we bounced back at the end and got what we could. We’ve been waiting all year to get this Daniel Defense paint scheme out there, and I’m glad we could get them a top-10 finish.”
– Ty Dillon
Daniel Hemric Finishes 13th in XFINITY Series Debut at Dover International Speedway
“We fought all day, there’s no doubt about that. We had a decent qualifying effort, had issues before the race and had to go to the back for the start. It showed the strength of this Blue Gate Bank Chevrolet having to come through the field and pass cars. All of that is good for team morale. The guys on pit road were great all day. They picked us up spots or maintained our position from the drop of the green flag. Crew chief Danny Stockman did a good job on tuning on this thing to give us an opportunity to get back as many spots as we could. We had an ignition issue or something there at the end of the race. We’ll go back to the shop and check it out. I’m proud of the effort. Some days are just not meant to be.”
– Daniel Hemric
Broken Trackbar Mount Cuts Brandon Jones’ Race Short in Dover
“We just can’t seem to catch a break. The No. 33 AAA Chevrolet Camaro had a lot of speed and fired off really strong in our practice sessions on Friday. We qualified decent too. Unfortunately, the No. 16 got into my left rear quarter panel in Turn 4 within the first 25 laps and sent us spinning down the frontstretch. My team fought hard to get me back up to speed. We fixed all the damage to the best of our abilities and were able to use pit strategy to get back into the top-10 during the final stage of the race. It’s a true heartbreaker that one of our rear trackbar mounts broke with just about 20 laps to go, and we had to retire to the garage. We were going to be able to salvage a decent finish if it hadn’t done that.”
– Brandon Jones
Early Damage Dampens Brendan Gaughan’s Day at Dover International Speedway
“It’s just another one of those days. The South Point Chevy had speed, but we wrecked early around lap 15. I got pinned down and was lucky to save it. That early incident knocked the toe out just enough to hurt the right front tire. We battled back through strategy, pitting before the stage ended. We ran inside the top-10 and were competitive. However the right front tire ultimately did us in. I felt it and had to come in under green with 10 laps to go. We probably would have finished around 12th-place if not for the green flag stop. We just can’t buy a break right now, we have good race cars, just no luck. We will move on to Pocono Raceway and try and start a new streak of good luck.”
– Brendan Gaughan