HAMPTON, Ga. — The No. 78 Furniture Row Racing team of Martin Truex Jr. failed inspection three times ahead of qualifying Friday at Atlanta Motor Speedway and will thus lose car chief Blake Harris for Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 (1 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM).
Truex also will lose 30 minutes of final practice time Saturday and start 35th in Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race, the second of the season.
“It’s unfortunate that we had a situation where we had multiple failures in what was otherwise a very successful debut for the Optical Scanning Station for a downforce track,” said Scott Miller, NASCAR senior vice president of competition. “We had rear-wheel alignment problems and we had body scan problems and we just weren’t able to get all of the things legal in those attempts. We had body scan problems for the rear-wheel openings and we had rear-toe failures, as well. Between the combination of those times through, we just didn’t get a great light by the third time.”
Per the rule book, a crew member — chosen at the discretion of NASCAR — will be ejected for failing inspection three times.
“It’s a new process and we’re working hard – collectively, the whole garage is – to figure it out, to figure the boundaries out and how to get through and NASCAR is working with their equipment the same way and it’s tough,” Furniture Row Racing President Joe Garone said. “It’s tough. One time you go through, the next time you don’t. You go through again and some things pass that didn’t pass the time before. It’s just frustrating. But we’ll get it all worked out. It’s just a matter of time.”
Crew chief Cole Pearn will tentatively remain atop the pit box, as the team did not make a fourth inspection attempt due to time, Garone said. The rule book states if a team fails four times then it will lose another crew member chosen at the discretion of NASCAR for the race.
“It’s just a weird set of circumstances,” Garone said. “The tolerances are very tight. It’s difficult to get through and push when you need to and be conservative when you need to and figure it all out.”
Inspection attempts will reset for pre-race inspection on Sunday.
In addition to Truex’s 30-minute practice penalty, Harrison Rhodes and Jimmie Johnson (failing inspection twice) and Jeffrey Earnhardt, Gray Gaulding, Michael McDowell and Cole Whitt (late to qualifying inspection) will all serve 15-minute holds.
As a kid growing up in Baltimore or even a college student leading the High Point University (NC) basketball team, Derrell Edwards says he would never have predicted that his greatest sporting honor would be celebrating a Daytona 500 triumph in NASCAR’s most famous Victory Lane.
“It’s been surreal for me actually,” said Edwards, who is the first member of NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity program to be a part of the winning Daytona 500 pit crew, and believed to be the first African-American to win the race as an over-the-wall crew member.
“Without any background of NASCAR it hasn’t sunk in to the point it would if I had been a racer all my life. But as an athlete, I’ve been an athlete all my life so it’s definitely the biggest thing I’ve ever felt. I’ve won championships in college and in high school, but this is those things on steroids.”
“It’s an exciting feeling and to do it with a special group of guys we have this year has been just unbelievable, honestly. It still hasn’t sunk in fully yet, it’s been sinking in day by day by day. Actually one of the veteran tire changers told me, ‘Honestly, you won’t really understand what you’ve done for another 20 years.’ “
Edwards works as a tire carrier for Austin Dillon’s iconic No. 3 Chevrolet after joining the Richard Childress Racing team last season when he crewed Paul Menard’s car in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series ranks.
The 26-year-old found his way to the sport after a celebrated career leading the High Point University men’s basketball team to a Big South Conference championship his senior year in school.
A conversation about a pit crew opportunity at NASCAR Hall of Famer Childress’ team that same year piqued Edwards’ interest in the sport, which he concedes he hadn’t really followed before.
He earned an internship with RCR in the spring of his final year of college. And after graduation, Edwards spent a year learning the craft in the ARCA Series before having the opportunity to step up to the Xfinity Series (with RCR’s Brendan Gaughan) and some limited experience at the Monster Energy Series level. He was hired to work full time with Menard in 2017. Edwards has been actively involved in the Drive for Diversity program the last two years.
Listening to Edwards speak about his time in NASCAR, it’s obvious his rise in the sport is more than a selfish pursuit. He genuinely is excited about what his accomplishment may inspire in others, as what it validates in himself.
“I wouldn’t have dreamed this or written this down in a million years that I’d be in NASCAR,” Edwards said. “But opportunity presented itself.I never really regret too many decisions I make. This is definitely one of the best I’ve ever made in my life. I believe it’s happening for a reason and I’m getting this platform for a reason, and it’s probably a story that needs to be shared and told to kids that are back in places like Baltimore where I’m from, that think there isn’t any hope.
Smile, Derrell Edwards. You just made history. | Photo courtesy of RCR
“I really want to pride myself in getting this story out there and being able to share it with some kids back home and all over the U.S. — that if I can, they can.”
Edwards’ enthusiasm is sincere and inspiring. He isn’t just someone who wants to make a difference. He is making a difference.
This year’s Daytona 500 was a significant turning point for the sport in some ways. Not only did Edwards make history with his work on the winning team — but the race’s runner-up finisher, Darrell Wallace Jr., became the highest finishing African-American driver ever in the 500.
“I feel like it’s happening,” Wallace said excitedly. “Timing is everything and this is perfect timing.”
The No. 3 crew celebrates after Austin Dillon’s Daytona 500 win. Brian Lawdermilk | Getty Images
“Some people just feel like they may not have a chance to even be a part of NASCAR but I’m living proof that from my culture as a minority you can get into it and be successful as well,” Edwards continued. “It’s showing that NASCAR has no problem with it. And that’s what I love. It’ll be great for NASCAR to get these different viewers in, more people interested and getting into the sport itself.”
And, as Edwards points out, even the “lucky penny” that his driver Dillon was given the week before the race — and carried in his car during Sunday’s 500 — was given to him by an 11-year-old African-American fan Jordan Wade, from Bradenton, Florida.
Afterward, Dillon wrote a letter to Wade’s elementary school teacher to ask for an excused absence for the youngster.
“Please allow Jordan to be excused from the last two days. He was crucial in our Daytona 500 victory.”
“Even Jordan, who handed Austin that penny before the race, it’s awesome to see him all over TV as well,” Edwards said. “He’s definitely going to have some kids think they can get into NASCAR and have a chance as well. I thought that story was awesome.’’
And the larger story here – important, historic milestones in the sport – will be celebrated for decades thanks to Edwards, and all those who he hopes to inspire.
“Not just me, but anybody to win the first of anything or to be the first at anything is a cool deal,” Edwards said. “I think it is a pretty big deal. I’ve actually been getting tons of calls from friends and even media back home. My friends and everyone there, they know I’m in NASCAR and on a pit crew, but now that they see I’ve won the Daytona 500.
“I feel special to be able to do that for the sport. That’s always a goal of mine. I love what [pit crew coach] Phil Horton has done with Drive for Diversity.
“And I can say there will definitely be some different viewers watching NASCAR on Sundays, for sure.”
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Chase Briscoe never would have thought he would be racing in the Xfinity Series a few years ago. He didn’t even know he would be racing in NASCAR.
“A lot of people don’t know my story, but I was sleeping on a couch for three years and volunteering at race shops and honestly I just thought I was going to go to school and work a 40-hour week job and race sprint cars on the side,” Brisoce told NASCAR.com on Friday at Atlanta Motor Speedway. “… I was actually moving back to Indiana the week I found out I was going to get the opportunity to run the ARCA stuff. I was over it and going back home and a door opened up for me and it ended up progressing all the way to here.
“I don’t think I’d believe it five years ago — I really still don’t believe it to this day. So, hopefully five years from now I can say I’m in Cup and battling for wins and championships. But we’ve got to perform here first.”
Briscoe, 23, will make his Xfinty Series debut in the heart of Georgia this weekend. The 2017 Camping World Truck Series Rookie of the Year is slated to run 12 races in Roush Fenway Racing’s No. 60 Ford, sharing the ride with Austin Cindric and Ty Majeski. He will also run select Xfinity races for Stewart-Haas Racing with Biagi-DenBeste as well as sports car and sprint-car forays, with a potential for a few Truck starts.
His 2018 race total is expected to amount to 60-70 events, he said.
“There are so many people and so many names and so many different crew chiefs and what not,” Briscoe said. “… It’s just a lot to handle, but it’s going to be fun and the biggest thing that will help me overall is just getting to drive different kinds of race cars, kind of the versatility of all that. I think it will make me better down the road, honestly. So, I’m looking forward it.
“Something I never thought I’d do in my career, be running sports cars and NASCAR and sprint cars all together, but it will be a fun year. Wish I was full-time but I think that’s kind of the best thing about being part-time, you can do all those things.”
Briscoe ended last year with the Camping World Truck Series Most Popular Driver award — and a winner trophy from the series’ season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
With that win, he saw his career come “full circle” — from sleeping on couches to celebrating in Victory Lane for the first time.
“It was huge and for me, it kind of just solidified everything,” Briscoe said on the win “ … Certainly gives you a little bit of confidence (coming into Atlanta) I think but at the same time, the Xfinity Series is so much tougher than the Truck Series just like the Trucks is tougher than ARCA and the Cup Series is tougher than Xfinity.
“So, you’ve got to constantly climb up the ladder and you’ve got to win with whatever you get in and hopefully we can do that over here.”
This weekend, he sets his sights on Atlanta – one of his favorite race tracks – and figuring his way around in an Xfinity car.
“(I’m) just anxious, ready to go,” he said. “It’s been a couple months since we’ve been in the car, so excited to get here and obviously a little bit nervous just because I don’t know what to expect. It will be the first time sitting in the thing … One of my favorite race tracks, though, so that makes it a little bit easier for me. Just excited to get going and curious to see how the outcome is going to be.”
And maybe one day, he’ll figure his way around a bobsled – Briscoe tweeted Friday that he would love to jump in one.
Why? It’s the most similar Olympic sport to stock-car racing. And Briscoe’s a racer, no matter the vehicle.
“The bobsled has always been something that I just thought looked cool,” Briscoe said with a smile. “I think it’s as close as you can get to driving a race car and it be an Olympic sport. Something about it – you’re in high-banked corners and you’re going 80 miles per hour and it just looks fun to me.”
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. rose to the top of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series leaderboard in Friday’s opening practice at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Stenhouse pushed the Roush Fenway Racing No. 17 Ford to a best lap of 186.384 mph on the 1.54-mile track. His lap came late in the 80-minute session, knocking Kyle Larson off the top spot.
Larson held onto the second position in the opening tune-up for Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 (1 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM). He secured a 185.915 mph lap in the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 42 Chevrolet.
Darrell Wallace Jr., last weekend’s runner-up in the Daytona 500, was third-fastest (185.834 mph) in the Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43 Chevrolet. Ty Dillon and Alex Bowman rounded out the top five in opening practice.
Daytona 500 champ Austin Dillon turned the 28th-fastest lap in the Richard Childress Racing No. 3 Chevrolet. Defending race winner Brad Keselowski clocked in with the 24th-best lap in the Team Penske No. 2 Ford.
Pole qualifying for Sunday’s event, the second of the Monster Energy Series’ season, is scheduled Friday at 5:15 p.m. (FS1, PRN, SiriusXM).
Daytona 500 polesitter Alex Bowman has a full slate of sponsorship for 2018, thanks to the addition of a new sponsor to the sport. Hendrick Motorsports announced Friday afternoon that Eastman Performance Films LLC would sponsor the No. 88 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 over the next three years.
Eastman will sponsor Bowman for one race in 2018 and two races in both 2019 and 2020, according to a team release. The sponsorship features the LLumar® brand of window film and paint protection film.
“We’re so proud to welcome Eastman and the LLumar brand to our team and our sport,” team owner Rick Hendrick said in the team release. “The products they offer are exceptional, and they’ve already identified areas where we can work together to positively impact and grow their business. We look forward to teaming up with them to build a successful program.”
Eastman joins Nationwide (19 races), Axalta (15 races) and Valvoline (two races) as primary sponsors of the No. 88 team in 2018.
Bowman, a car enthusiast, is in his first year driving the No. 88. He finished 17th in the season-opening race.
“As someone who’s always looking for ways to personalize and protect my own cars, Eastman offers some really cool LLumar products,” Bowman said. “Working with them is a great fit for me, and I know they’ll bring a lot of fresh ideas to the overall partnership with Hendrick Motorsports.”
Darrell Wallace Jr. said Friday that he has not spoken to Denny Hamlin after their altercation in last weekend’s Daytona 500, adding that he is no longer a part of Hamlin’s recreational golf and basketball leagues.
“Both. I’ve been removed from both, although I didn’t get the direct text,” Wallace said. “It went through like five or six people, so that’s classy, I guess.”
Wallace’s remarks came in Friday morning’s driver availabilities before opening Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Wallace finished second to race winner Austin Dillon in last weekend’s Daytona 500. His debut in the Great American Race was just his fifth premier series start and the maiden voyage of his first full-time season in the Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43 Chevrolet.
Wallace avoided trouble throughout the season-opening event, but scraped across the start/finish line in a side-by-side battle with third-place Hamlin at the checkered flag. Wallace had pointed comments for Hamlin in post-race interviews and the two exchanged words in the Daytona International Speedway garage.
With the potential for strained relationships, Wallace said he received notice about his dismissal from the golf group, but that he opted to remove himself from the basketball league. He indicated that he had not had further conversations with Hamlin to clear the air.
“No. Probably not going to,” Wallace said.
As for the new vacancies in the extracurricular sports leagues, Hamlin told FOX Sports: “Those positions have been filled.”
Wallace’s Friday comments came three days after both he and Hamlin addressed the incident and aftermath, with Wallace giving his thoughts on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio and Hamlin tweeting.
“We’re actually texting each other right now, we’re still not happy,” Wallace said on Tuesday. “I’m OK, he’s not. We’re racers, and we’ll go to Atlanta and be battling each other. … We’ll see how long it takes to officially clear the air.”
Hamlin responded later Tuesday evening with a series of tweets:
Let me clue the idiots on Twitter what I was pissed off about. I had no issue with how the race ended. I was minding my own business on the bottom of the track and out of the blue I get ran into, my tire blown, and perfectly straight car destroyed. I’m good with all that.
Then, I go do media and everything is fine. Then the last question is what was my response to what Bubba said. I had no issue until not only did he place blame on me but then went on to make personal comments about myself. I left the media center and saw Bubba 30 secs later.
After Friday’s first practice at Atlanta, Hamlin elaborated on his stance in the aftermath of Daytona’s Speedweeks.
“I just use it as motivation,” Hamlin told FS1. “I’ve always been motivated, but it just fires me up more to be more motivated so I have no issue at all. I’m here trying to do the best I can to get a great finish this weekend and put ourselves in position to run well in the regular season, win some races, get ourselves some bonus points so we can march through the playoffs and put ourselves in a championship spot by the end of the year. These little bumps in the road are just … they really are just some speed bumps, and we’re going to keep marching forward and see what we’ve got.”
ATLANTA, Ga. – Chase Elliott will be wearing specially designed shoes this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Even more special, though, are the designers behind the shoes: Patients at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite Hospital.
Elliott visited those patients and their families on Thursday at the Atlanta, Georgia-based hospital and also unveiled the winning shoe designs that he and his three Hendrick Motorsports teammates will sport this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Patients from the hospital submitted designs through the “DESI9N TO DRIVE” program and the drivers chose the five best designs (Elliott has two pairs of shoes) to be imprinted on their Alpinestars.
The shoes will be auctioned off, with bidding open until March 2, with the proceeds benefiting the Chase Elliott Foundation for a summer camp the hospital runs.
“It was a great program last year that raised some good money for the hospital here at Children’s and was able to get enough traction to be able to do it again and I feel like it’s good for everybody …” Elliott said. “It’s a great cause and something easy, too, that everybody can get behind and they get to wear a cool pair of shoes, so it’s a win-win.”
Thursday also marked the first time the young patients had seen their designs come to life on the shoes. They stood up front with Elliott as he pulled back the black draping over them.
“I designed the sea,” 7-year-old Emma Anderson, whose nautical vision was chosen to be printed on one pair of Elliott’s shoes, told NASCAR.com. “… Because we like going to the beach and I go there for my birthday every year.”
Anderson said Elliott is “the only one” she and her family can root for — and they’ll get the chance to cheer him on first-hand, too, as the patients will join Elliott at the race track for Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 (2 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
“I think a lot of times you often forget how blessed you are and how lucky we are to get to do some of the things that we do,” Elliott said. “So to be able to come and if you can just make one person’s day — or make half their day — to me is a win and I hope that we can do that some of the kids here and their families.
“Letting them design something and seeing it come to life and then seeing it actually be used, I think is pretty cool and from their perspective, I think it is, too. … I feel like it’s just a good opportunity to get these families out to the race and enjoy a fun weekend and get away and spend some time there.”
This marks the second year that the Chase Elliott Foundation has implemented this program, which raised over $30,000 last year. Like last year, several partners will be matching the highest auction bid of Elliott shoes, including NAPA AUTO PARTS, Mountain Dew, Hooters, SunEnergy1, Kelley Blue Book, Valvoline, TriMaxx Graphics and Hendrick Motorsports.
Elliott also spent time with the children and their families before and after the shoes unveiling, and participated in a question-and-answer session.
“How fast is too fast?” one of the winning patient designers Lucas Hunter asked.
“No such thing,” Elliott said with a smile.
One young girl was asked who her favorite NASCAR driver was.
“You are,” she said, looking at Elliott.
The impact that Elliott has on the children at the hospital is evident; children walked away holding autographed T-Shirts and die casts, with selfies with their favorite driver on their phones.
More importantly, they left with special memories.
“We are so grateful to Chase Elliott and the Chase Elliott Foundation for all that they do to support our patients and their families,” Beth Buursema, director of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Foundation and External Affairs, told NASCAR.com. “I think what’s great about this shoe design contest is Chase not only helps he and his teammates pick these shoes they can wear for the race, but Chase is involved himself. He comes to visit the patients, he is so supportive of all the things that we do and encouraging them to get better in their battles that they’re dealing with.
“And we don’t see that all the time, so we’re very grateful to Chase and all that he does for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.”
One patient in particular, made a special connection with Elliott: Four-year-old Jason, who goes by Brantley, was upset that medical procedures kept him from making Elliott’s appearance downstairs.
Elliott decided to make a special trip to see him.
“Do you like cars?” Elliott said, crouching beside his bed. “It can hang out with your teddy bear.”
A nurse brought up a side table that Brantley could use as the “track” and he began wheeling the mini Elliott die cast around in left turns.
“We’ll have to get you some more cars so you can race here on this table,” Elliott said.
Several minutes after the two had said their goodbyes, Brantley was still waving at the door.
The visit may have been over, but for those children, the impact continues.
If you follow Dale Earnhardt Jr. on social media you likely know by now that he’s in South Korea with NBC Sports — his new employer — taking in the 2018 Olympic Winter Games and appearing on various segments behalf of the network.
When food connoisseurs discuss fine wines, meats and cheeses, they will use the phrase “aged to perfection” to indicate the very best choices. With NASCAR drivers, the same can be said to describe a race track that has gained some character in its surface over the years, a condition that typically heightens the overall racing experience.
In such situations, searching for the right groove and controlling a sliding car are challenges drivers look forward to trying to master. Meanwhile, finding the right tire combination and strategies as tire wear comes into play are things to which Goodyear and the teams pay close attention.
Atlanta Motor Speedway is a favorite among drivers because its track has been aged to perfection, and it usually means exciting racing for the fans, too. And with a tripleheader in the NASCAR national series set for Atlanta this weekend, it’s the perfect time to discuss how NASCAR measures the surface texture of the tracks that host its events.
Joining us to help explain the procedure is David Groseclose, the director of tire systems and unified testing at the NASCAR R&D Center in Concord, North Carolina. A tire engineer for much of his professional career, Groseclose’s Twitter handle is appropriately @nascartireguy.
Groseclose is part of a team that travels to NASCAR-sanctioned tracks for tire tests, and during that time they also measure the track surface. He says their system includes checks at eight points around the track. Richmond Raceway was the example Groseclose shared with us, and there the team scanned for three-dimensional images on the frontstretch, the backstretch, in each of the four corners and at both apexes of the corners.
At each of those eight spots, three different grooves are measured, six images are taken per groove to represent the high line, the low line and the line in the middle — for a total of 144 images from the spots shown in the diagram:
Then once those images are collected, NASCAR measures in micrometers from the highest peaks in the surface to the lowest valleys. These differences are very subtle to the naked eye, but on the 3-D images on computers (as in the Michigan and Atlanta photos below), an exact number is calculated for each track.
NASCAR collects the information together on a graph (below) where it’s easy to see where tracks fall on a continuum of smoothest to roughest. The lower the variance, the smoother the track, and thus the lower the number. You will see the concrete tracks to the left or the lower end in surface variance (as would be expected) and some of the aged asphalt surfaces to the right.
The smoother the track, and thus the lower the number in average surface texture..Then NASCAR gets this information out to the tracks so it can be part of their decision-making process on when to resurface a track. The information also goes to Goodyear, the sport’s official tire provider, to aid in determining the right tire combination for each track.
But for fans who have ever wanted to put context behind whether a track is smooth, rough, or in the middle, it’s fascinating to look at the numbers, and it should be celebrated that each track surface has its own special characteristics and feel for the drivers. To use a different sport’s analogy, it’s like reveling in the differences in stadiums in the major leagues. Whether you prefer Fenway Park with its Green Monster protecting left field or Yankee Stadium with its short porch to right field, the differences are part of what make the game great, and the athletes that make the best adjustments to the changing landscape put themselves in a better spot for success.
Same for NASCAR and its tracks. The drivers and teams that do their homework will be the ones fighting for the win at the finish. Now when you hear the competitors discussing the adjustments they are making, you will know what goes behind those decisions.
Austin Dillon saw him in the distance wearing a white Ford hat.
It was the day before the Advance Auto Parts Clash, the non-points race one week prior to the Daytona 500, and Dillon was signing autographs.
The boy approached him, big-eyed.
“I told him, ‘Look, man, if you ain’t got a favorite driver, I’ll give you my hat if you choose me as your favorite,’ ” Dillon recalled to NASCAR.com while touring New York City this week as Daytona 500 champion.
The terms were agreeable. Dillon whipped the hat off his head, signed it and handed it over. The boy thanked him and pledged his allegiance.
The interaction was over. Until it wasn’t.
Jordan Wade surprised Austin Dillon with a visit to the RCR shop on Wednesday. | Photo via RCR
• • •
The boy came back to Daytona the next day, and Dillon spotted him. It was easy — 11-year-old Jordan Wade was wearing his hat.
Jordan yelled Dillon’s name and motioned him over. Dillon ran over.
“Hey man, I have this for you,” Jordan said. He flashed a penny.
“He gave me the hat, and I had to think of something to give him back in return,” Jordan said. “Most people wouldn’t pick up a penny, you know, but they’d pick up a quarter or a nickel. But I gave it to him for good luck.”
Dillon’s mind immediately began churning, working its way backward to 20 years prior in 1998. The Intimidator. Wessa Miller. A lucky penny affixed to the dashboard of that No. 3 Chevrolet, which Earnhardt would famously steer into Victory Lane for the first time in his career in the Daytona 500.
As Earnhardt posed for photo upon photo in Victory Lane that day, two little fellas joined him — Austin, then 7, and his brother Ty, then 5. It was a seminal moment in Austin Dillon’s life. He saw up-close Dale Earnhardt’s celebration, the joy exuding from his grandfather and team owner Richard Childress. It set his course on becoming a race car driver.
That’s Ty Dillon (far left) and brother Austin in Victory Lane. | RacingOne
Twenty years later, Austin Dillon drives the No. 3 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing.
This clicked through his mind at perhaps a quarter-of-a-second when Jordan offered the penny.
“I was like, ‘Hey man, that’s good karma’ because of Dale having the penny in the car,” Dillon said. “We had it in the Clash car, and it ran well and avoided the wrecks.”
The Clash car, with the penny still inside, was sent back to Welcome, North Carolina, following the race. It had done its duty, stayed out of trouble and finished fifth. The No. 3 team had additional cars in Daytona Beach for the ensuing Can-Am Duel qualifying races and the Daytona 500 itself.
But then the green flag dropped on the Can-Am Duel races, and there was Dillon navigating through wreckage and debris, avoiding it as best he could but not altogether, not liking the feel of the machine underneath as much as he did the previous race.
He wanted his Clash car. He wanted the penny with it.
“The car actually went home, and I wanted to bring the Clash car back. I said to make sure we have the penny in the car,” Dillon said. “The guy I asked to do it was my underneath guy, Kevin Gladman. I was like, ‘Guys, we have to get that penny back. They were like, ‘It’s in North Carolina.’ I told them it doesn’t matter.”
The team made it happen, loading the hauler with the Clash car back up and driving down to Daytona in time for the weekend practices.
Austin Dillon, with a penny affixed to his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, won the 2018 Daytona 500. He did so with a last-lap pass on race leader Aric Almirola, although “pass” is probably one of several words you could use to describe his move.
“Turn” would work. Some might say “punt,” although the aggressive move which ended up sending Almirola into the outside retaining wall caused no ill will with the Stewart-Haas Racing driver.
“We were both trying to win the Daytona 500,” Almirola would say after the race.
After the race, Dillon cut donuts into the infield, with some of the marks left behind looking like a “3,” perhaps the most iconic number in all of NASCAR. It holds extra special meaning to the Childress family, and to Dillon and fans of Earnhardt Nation, many of whom still hold up three fingers on the third lap of every race.
Brian Lawdermilk | Getty Images
That famous No. 3 Chevrolet from 1998 sits inside the RCR Museum to this day, the penny still glued on. One day, this No. 3 will join it with its penny still attached.
“The penny’s going to live in that Daytona 500 car,” Dillon said. “I think it deserves it. It has a home. Most pennies that you find don’t have a home. That one has a home, you know what I mean?”
With Dillon’s Daytona 500 win came a champion’s tour to New York City, where Austin and wife Whitney did their best to take in the sites of the city while also making the talk-show rounds.
Dillon’s mind, on the rare bit of downtime it had to wander, invariably made its way back to Jordan.
“There was something about this kid,” Dillon said. “I felt something good about him.”
Dillon explained in detail how he wanted to get Jordan to the RCR shop, show him around. He likely had never seen the inside of a race car. Dillon wanted to pick him up and put him inside one, let him grab the steering wheel and cinch up.
Unbeknownst to Dillon, his team was working behind the scenes to make that happen.
On Wednesday, when Dillon and the No. 3 team were honored at Richard Childress Racing for their Daytona 500 win the day after touring New York City, Jordan was there. He was wearing a familiar hat.
“We were all hoping that he was going to win,” Jordan said from the RCR shop. “Then, with the luck I gave him, he won.”
Dillon gave Jordan that shop tour, with the two posing for pictures with fellow driver Darrell Wallace Jr., who finished second. Wallace Jr., who drives the No. 43 Chevrolet for Richard Petty Motorsports, is the first African-American driver with a full-time ride in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series since 1971.
His runner-up finish in the “Great American Race” is the best ever for a driver of color. Richard Petty Motorsports and Richard Childress Racing announced an alliance over the summer, with RPM relocating its shop to be closer to RCR. The two teams celebrated the 1-2 finish together.
Wednesday was a good day in Welcome.
“As far as fan engagement, it’s special,” Dillon said. “It’s cool. I feel like I made a kid who didn’t know if he liked NASCAR, and he was just kind of learning about it, I feel like I made him love it. Because I gave him something, and he gave me something. We’ll be tied together for a long time.”
It’s not unlike Dillon to want to give back, his wife, Whitney, chimed in. She’d been listening to the interview with NASCAR.com and couldn’t hold back this thought any longer.
“One of my favorite things about Austin is that he is so caring and giving to every person that he comes into contact with,” Whitney said. “He has touched so many lives, and the impact that he has at RCR — he would never tell you this–– with all of the employees. He knows most of them by names, he knows their backgrounds. He takes time to go there almost every single day. Half of his pit crew, they lived with him for a while so they could get on their feet and get going. It’s just cool. When you give, it just comes back.”
“I just try to give back a little to the fans who give us so much each and every weekend,” Austin Dillon added. “I just want ’em to love me.”
• • •
Dillon, 27, remains a part of NASCAR’s youth movement, although he’s a veteran of that group. Sunday was the second-youngest Daytona 500 field ever, so while being 27 is young, it’s not young in this current era of NASCAR.
Certainly Dillon still remembers traipsing through the garage as a child, collecting cards and looking up to his heroes to sign them. It wasn’t that long ago.
It’s those memories that linger now that Dillon is a driver himself. Every interaction he has with a child has meaning. Perhaps he simply makes a child’s day. Or perhaps he makes such an impact that the next Jordan he signs for is the next driver of the No. 3 Chevrolet.
The impact on Jordan is clear. That boy who never experienced a NASCAR race before last weekend? Ask him what he wants to be when he grows up.
“I want to be a NASCAR driver, now,” he said.
That’s how Dillon felt when he was a kid, too. And guess what? Now, he’s a NASCAR driver.
“I want people to experience what I’ve experienced since I was a kid, and be able to enjoy races and enjoy experiences,” Dillon said. “There’s a lot of good role models in NASCAR. When I was growing up, every driver would sign what I asked them to sign. My grandfather still does that.
“The biggest thing is, you have to give back to the sport that’s given you what you’ve got. If I can create experiences for kids that will bring their kids here, the Daytona 500 will live on forever.”
“I think it’s awesome to see what his involvement in NASCAR could be like,” Dillon continued. “Could he be the next president of a race team? An engineer? A crew chief? A driver? You never know what you’re creating when you meet a young kid that has everything in front of him.”
In the middle of this discussion, Dillon paused when returning to the anecdote from the Clash. The hat on his head wasn’t the only thing he’d given away, and suddenly the driver made a connection.
He gave the hat on his head to Jordan. Later, a young girl wearing a Chase Elliott hat walked by. Dillon good-naturedly teased her and asked if she’d consider becoming his fan, upping the ante with another hat his father had just purchased that day.
That interaction drew a crowd. To be fair, Dillon said he’d give the hat away to whoever answered a trivia question correctly. The little girl didn’t get the question right. Another boy did, and he earned the hat.
The girl wearing the Chase Elliott hat was saddened to see that second hat going to someone else, so the boy who received it kindly gave it to her. Moved, Dillon asked the boy to walk back to his golf cart. En route, Dillon took the shirt he was wearing, slipped it off over his head, signed it and gave it to that boy. He rode away in a golf cart, shirtless.
It suddenly dawned on Dillon the number of items he gave away. Two hats. One shirt. Three, total.
“Numbers are so weird,” he said, after a pause. “I gave away three things that night. That’s all I had to give away. Three.”
The 
One young girl was asked who her favorite NASCAR driver was.
Elliott decided to make a special trip to see him.
