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RICHMOND, Va. — Ty Dillon had visions of a six-figure payday when he unloaded for a compact, rain-tightened NASCAR XFINITY Series event at Richmond International Raceway, but several factors stood in the way of him endorsing the check.
Dillon overcame the odds and cashed in Saturday with a runner-up effort in the ToyotaCare 250, claiming the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus as the top-finishing XFINITY Series regular among the eligible four-driver pool. He did it all with an interim crew chief, a nifty move through a slam-bang restart near the end — all happening at a race track that hadn’t historically been his favorite.
“You’re sure we’re at Richmond, right? Because this place has been really tough on me and our team as a whole,” Dillon said after finishing a close .226 seconds behind race winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. “To finish second, to run the way we did all day was just impressive for us.”
Dillon foiled fellow Dash 4 Cash drivers Brennan Poole, Erik Jones and Justin Allgaier — all three of whom spent time leading, but none of whom wound up in the top five at race’s end. Each caught varying degrees of damage in a multi-car pileup in the next-to-last restart; Poole trudged on to finish 10th, but Jones (34th) and Allgaier (35th) each retired early with severely bent race cars.
Dillon was without his regular crew chief, Nick Harrison, who was serving a one-race suspension for a technical infraction the previous week. As a result, Danny Efland — a former driver currently serving as an engineer — took over the pit box for the Richard Childress Racing No. 3 Chevrolet team in an interim role.
Dillon sat fifth for the penultimate restart, third among Dash 4 Cash drivers. Poole held the lead, his No. 48 Chevrolet team gambling by staying on the race track with older tires to gain track position. Allgaier ran second and in position for the Dash 4 Cash prize for much of the race and lined up there for the return to green with six laps left.
But Earnhardt Jr., third on the restart, dove low inside of Poole and Allgaier to forge a three-wide contest for the lead heading to Turn 1. Earnhardt vaulted to the lead, but Poole slid into Allgaier, knocking his JR Motorsports No. 7 into a prolonged slide and entangling pole-starter Jones as part of a nine-car stack but sparing Dillon from the carnage.
Allgaier emerged from his battered ride, punching a trash can in frustration before entering the JRM hauler.
“It sucks to run that well all day and to have nothing to show for it,” Allgaier said. “Obviously being a part of the Dash 4 Cash program and was loving to go for that $100,000, but ultimately for the race win. Instead, I’m standing here in street clothes. Just a frustrating way to end the day, but we’ve got fast race cars and we’ll be back next week.”
Jones, who divided the heat-race victories with Dillon, was also unable to continue, retiring after 134 of an overtime-extended 149 laps. He also had to contend with an angry Mike Harmon, who confronted the teenager in his hauler after their contact brought out the first caution flag and forced the fateful restart.
“I think racing is a sport of highs and lows — we had our highs last weekend and we have our lows this week,” said Jones, who captured the Dash 4 Cash opener last weekend at Bristol. “Just an unfortunate day for us. We were off all day and then it just got worse as it went on.”
Poole absorbed significant damage, but limped home to register his second top-10 finish of the season. He chalked up the contact to typical short-track restarts in the late going, but also applauded his Chip Ganassi Racing crew’s decision to shake up its strategy.
“I think that’s what you have to do, and Junior had to do what he had to do to get to the inside of me,” Poole said of the late-race scramble. “I’d have done the same thing. We’re all racing hard. There’s only eight laps to go. The restart is really the best way to make up track position, so we’re all just battling tight for it and it’s just how it goes at the end of these races sometimes. You’re battling as hard as you can.”
The next NASCAR XFINITY Series race featuring the Dash 4 Cash bonus is scheduled May 14 at Dover International Speedway.
MORE: See how Dash 4 Cash works