Rookie finishes seventh but gains little on Chase Elliott, Regan Smith
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JOLIET, Ill. – Ty Dillon closed the gap on the two drivers in front of him in the NASCAR Nationwide Series standings, but the Richard Childress Racing driver knows the gain was a slim one.
With only seven races remaining, the opportunities are dwindling.
The series returns to action Saturday, Sept. 20 with the VisitMyrtleBeach.com 300 at Kentucky Speedway (7:30 p.m, ESPNEWS).
“Technically, we did what we needed to do, (we) beat the guys that are ahead of us in points, but we’ve got to do a lot better to get up there in the championship,” Dillon said after finishing seventh in Saturday’s Jimmy John’s Freaky Fast 300 at Chicagoland Speedway.
Points leader Chase Elliott (JR Motorsports) finished 10th and now leads teammate Regan Smith, who finished eighth, by 18 points. Dillon trails the leader by 40.
Elliott Sadler (Joe Gibbs Racing) and Brian Scott (RCR) both finished in the top-10 Saturday and remain fourth and fifth, respectively, in the standings.
“We had speed all day, especially on restarts,” Dillon said. “We could really go on restarts. But at the start of the race, our splitter kind of detached from the fascia on our front end and had a really bad flutter. Any time it would flutter (the car) would get really tight, so we had to come in and fix that and restart at the back I guess about 70 laps into the race. From there on, it was kind of a battle.”
Dillon worked his way back inside the top 10 and was running eighth following a restart on Lap 140. When Jeremy Clements brought out the caution at Lap 153, Dillon and his team, led by crew chief Danny Stockman Jr., opted for a fuel-only stop. As a result, he gained four positions to restart fourth.
“(We) tried to hold everybody off,” Dillon said. “I don’t know if we finished sixth or seventh, we were side by side with (Sadler) at the line. … Not a bad day for the adversity we had to come through.”
Trevor Bayne finished fifth, highest among the series’ regulars. Sprint Cup Series drivers and a part-time Nationwide Series driver in Ryan Blaney swept the top four spots, with Kevin Harvick scoring the victory.
It was the 19th top-10 of the season for Dillon, who earned his first career NNS win earlier this year at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
But Elliott, like Dillon a Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender, has three wins and 20 top-10s, while Smith has one win and 22 top-10s. Neither of the JR Motorsports drivers has shown any indication of faltering down the stretch.
“We’ve been kind of battling from behind all year,” Dillon admitted. “… Getting behind early in the race is nothing new to us; we’re used to fighting from behind.
“Hopefully things will start going our way and we run to our full potential.”
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