Strong Stage Points Day for Austin Dillon and the No. 3 Coca-Cola Chevrolet Team in Season’s Longest Race
Finish: 14th
Start: 6th
Points: 18th
“The Coca-Cola 600 is one of my favorite races of the year because Charlotte Motor Speedway is my home track, and there is nothing that compares to racing on Memorial Day weekend and honoring our military. I feel so honored to be able to race this weekend for Chief Special Warfare Operator Eric F. Shellenberger with a very patriotic Coca-Cola paint scheme. I feel really good overall, physically, which is a good thing after a 600-mile race. We ran in the top 10 all night, and earned Stage points at the conclusion of Stage 1, Stage 2 and Stage 3. We had a really solid No. 3 Coca-Cola Chevrolet. We ran up front in the top five, and we ran some of the fastest times of the race. I’m bummed that we ran that strong all night long and then gave it away at the end. When the caution flag came out at the end of the race, we decided that if a couple of cars pitted we were going to stay out. I actually said that if all of the cars stayed out, I was going to pit. Not all of the cars stayed out, though. I thought more would stay out. In hindsight, we probably should have came in and got two tires. The No. 18 car was running one position in front of us, came and got two and ended up fifth. You just never know. If you get the outside it makes a difference. My teammate, Tyler Reddick, got the outside and ended up being able to maintain. I should have known. We were too tight at the end of the race. I drove the wheels off of it, and when the caution came out we were just a little overconfident. We wanted another good finish. It worked for us at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. All in all, we had a top 10 car. We ran eighth to ninth on average all night long. It was still a good effort, and I’m excited about having the chance to come back here for a mid-week race on Wednesday. We have good cars at RCR. We have proven that we can run up front. We just have to get those finishes.” -Austin Dillon
Tyler Reddick Earns Top-10 Finish in First Coca-Cola 600 with Alsco Uniforms Chevrolet Team
Finish: 8th
Start: 5th
Points: 16th
“Well, the longest night of racing is in the books. I’m proud of the effort our No. 8 Alsco Uniforms Chevrolet team gave tonight. We fought hard all night to make our car better, and we took a gamble at the end, which almost paid off for us. The track just didn’t do quite what I hoped it would do tonight, but we still found a way to get a top 10 out of the race. We fired off really strong tonight and had a shot at the pole in qualifying. After the brief rain storm, it was tough to get the balance nailed down to where we needed it to be. I was too loose in Turns 1 and 2 but then too tight in Turns 3 and 4. We tried a lot of different adjustments and strategy calls to try to adjust the handling, and hit on something during that second to last caution of the night. Randall Burnett and my team were able to get our car loosened up just enough for me to run up through the field from 15th to 10th. From there, we decided to stay out and go for it on that green-white-checkered, and almost got a top-five finish out of it. I learned a lot tonight that I think we can take into account when we return to Charlotte Motor Speedway on Wednesday to help with our long run handling and speed. This is definitely a finish we can build on. 400 laps and 600 miles are done, and we’ll be ready to come back on Wednesday night. It was an honor to have SGT. Norman L. Tollett’s name above my windshield tonight, and I hope we made his friends and family proud.” -Tyler Reddick
