Richmond Redo: Austin Dillon Goes Back to Back in VA

Austin Dillon and the RCR 3 team celebrate their win Saturday night in the Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway. (Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

Cook Out 400:

Austin Dillon redeemed himself from his disastrous (yet unforgettable) 2024 triumph at Richmond by winning this year's rendition of the Cook Out 400 with zero on track controversary. The win is Dillon's first of the year, sixth of his career, and locks him into the playoffs for the 2025 campaign. Several RCR folks, including Dillon, commented how much this win helps relieve some of the stress from last year and they hope to use this as a launching pad for momentum heading into the final 11 races of the year.

Overall, Saturday night's race was badass. It was as close to a throwback, good ole fashioned short track race I grew up loving from the early-2000s into the 2010s. Albeit with less attrition, we still did see some on track caution inducing action. The biggest incident was triggered by Kyle Busch dumping Chase Briscoe going into turn three before subsequently wiping out Chase Elliott coming off of turn four. A wreck that harkened back to several from my younger years memories of accidents that essentially turned turn three into a parking lot. On top of the beatin' and bangin' we had wild pit strategy and solid tire fall off that made tires matter, made driver's actions to preserve and manage their tires matter, and made cred chiefs get the strategy right. All of these factors turned out what I believe to be one of the best, if not the best, short track race we have had in the Gen7 car. Something I hope we continue to see at other short tracks and flatter, slower tracks on the remainder of the schedule. I'll not hold my breath but I am optimistic that NASCAR and Goodyear at least has things trending in the right direction with proof in the pudding that it is possible to make changes in tires and whatnot to still give fans chances at good races.

Another thing I loved about the race was there were multiple drivers at different stages that looked like the car to beat. Ryan Preece looked unstoppable for the first stage, Reddick came on strong before getting taken out by Suarez wrecking Ty Gibbs, Bubba Wallace may have been the car to beat until a loose lugnut on a late pit stop caused him to have to stop again on pit road in Briscoe's pit box to get the wheel reattached, Ryan Blaney came on strong during stage three and gave Austin Dillon a fit for dozens of laps before the final pit cycle began, and of course, Austin Dillon was strong all night. He flexed his muscles when it mattered most by getting by Blaney late, jumping on pit road, and establishing himself as the car to beat in Richmond for the second consecutive year. This time, he executed perfectly, no late race cautions, and no late race incidents occured, and he piloted the iconic number 3 car into victory lane. A fitting story line to have arguably the race of his life a year after the most forgettable race of his life.

Next up we head to Daytona International Speedway with the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Cup Series while the Craftsman Truck Series enjoys a weekend off before rejoining the party at Darlington on Labor Day Weekend. The Xfinity Series will get things kicked off for us Friday night on The CW at 7:30 p.m. with the Wawa 250. The Cup Series has another Saturday night showdown on NBC at 7:30 p.m. with the Coke Zero Sugar 400.

Daytona Picks:

Trucks = OFF

Xfinity = Jesse Love

Cup = Kyle Busch