Austin Dillon channels Dale Earnhardt with gutsy move to win at Daytona and make the playoffs

Dillon pushed race leader and namesake Austin Cindric out of the way on the final lap to make the 10-race NASCAR Cup playoffs

Results, notes and updated/reset point standings are at the bottom of this story

Somewhere, the late Dale Earnhardt was likely smiling.

Austin Dillon made the kind of move Earnhardt was known for, pushing race leader Austin Cindric out of the way on the final lap for Dillon to get past him, going on to win Sunday’s rain-rescheduled Coke Zero Sugar 400.

In so doing, Dillon – driving the same iconic No. 3 Chevrolet that Earnhardt made famous en route to his seven Cup championships, clinched the 16th and final spot for the upcoming playoffs, which begin next Sunday at Darlington Raceway.

Had he not won the race, Dillon would not have made the playoffs. Coming down to the final lap, he knew all that was on the line.

“I knew if we got to the white (flag), if I waited too long, I was afraid somebody would wreck behind us,” Dillon said. “So I wanted to go and get the lead. ,,, I got him loose and got it going.

“You just never give up. We’ve had some tough finishes this year. I’ve beat myself up over (some of those). Today, we finished it off and so proud and glad to be going to victory lane.”

Forget champagne, Austin Dillon takes a sip from a bottle of Coke after winning Sunday's Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway. The win put Dillon into the playoffs for the fifth time in his career. (Photo by Andrew Coppley/HHP for Chevy Racing)

Cindric, who ultimately finished third behind Dillon and his teammate, Tyler Reddick, wasn’t happy at the way he lost, but he also knew it was part of the game.

“I got hit by another race car going 190-200 mph,” Cindric said. “He’s racing for a playoff spot. I totally expected him to drive through, it was just a matter of time. I’m pretty bummed. We had a shot to win today. We put ourselves in a position, dang it.

“One lap longer, we might have had a shot. It’s just frustrating to be that close. You just know it’s going to come down to when they’re going to make that run. I’m kinda pissed about it, but I can’t be too upset. I’m in the playoffs and have a lot to fight for. It’s a great opportunity.”

In a sense, Dillon had to win the race twice in order to make his fifth appearance in the Cup playoffs. Using great pit strategy and a careful eye on the weather radar, he managed to get in front of the field following a huge crash took out several cars just as rain began to fall on the racetrack.

While so many others around him were wrecking, Dillon carefully maneuvered his way around the carnage and took the lead, with NASCAR throwing the yellow and eventually red flag just a few moments later.

After a three hour, nine minute rain delay, the race resumed and Dillon went on to win it for a second time, so to speak. Or as some might say, he did it fair and square, rather than to rely upon a rain-aided win.

“100 percent,” Dillon said when asked if it was more satisfying to win the way he did rather than a potentially rain-shortened event. “We stayed ready. Man, we’re in the playoffs!”

But the number 3 also had a downside to it for a different driver. Martin Truex Jr., who came from behind to win the 2019 Cup championship, won’t be in the playoffs in 2022, missing qualifying for the field by just – yep, you guessed it – three points.

“We just weren’t fast enough to keep up with those guys,” a dejected Truex said. “I was wide-open the last run there. It’s a shame, it stinks, but we just had too much damage to do what we needed to do.”

Truex, who had finished in the top two in four of the last five seasons, joins Brad Keselowski as former champions who did not make the playoffs. All he needed was to have gained three more points at any of the first 26 races. To illustrate how close that was, if Truex would have finished just one position higher in three different races this year, he would have made the playoffs.

“Hindsight is always 20-20,” Truex said. “We gave away plenty of points during the season. It is what it is.”

As a result, Ryan Blaney became the only driver without any wins thus far this season to advance to the playoffs, by three points again. And what probably stings more than anything for Truex is that Blaney, who finished 15th, was involved in an early wreck and basically limped his car home to the finish, six laps down, but just enough points ahead of Truex (who finished eighth and on the lead lap) to advance to the championship.

“We’re very fortunate, that’s for sure,” Blaney said. “It was not a good day to get going. Getting tore up early, at that point, fate was not in our hands. All we could do is keep working on it and fix it so we could make up laps.

“Thankfully, we were able to get by enough cars throughout the wrecks so that we were able to move up and get in. That was a lot more stressful than I wanted coming into here.

“You try to stay optimistic. You never know what can happen, whether it’s a new winner or beat the 19 on points. Just tried to stay optimistic and stay in the game. You try not to think about the negatives, even though it’s easy to think about the negatives. It’s definitely a roller coaster of emotions but luckily it ended on a high note for us.”

So here you have it, the 16 drivers who will battle for the 2022 Cup crown:

* Chase Elliott

* Joey Logano

* Ross Chastain

* defending series champ Kyle Larson

* William Byron

* Denny Hamlin

* Ryan Blaney

* Tyler Reddick

* Kevin Harvick

* Christopher Bell

* Kyle Busch

* Chase Briscoe

* Daniel Suarez

* Austin Cindric

* Alex Bowman

* Austin Dillon

Heading into the kickoff race for the playoffs, the Southern 500 on Sunday at Darlington, Elliott leads all drivers with the points reset, with 2,040 points. Logano is next (2,025 points), with Dillon bringing up the rear, just 20 points behind Logano at 2,005 points.

Truex wasn’t the only past champion who failed to make the playoffs. Also coming up short was 2012 champ Brad Keselowski, who has had a horrible season in his first year as a team co-owner (RFK Racing) and driver.

And even though he was locked into the playoffs, defending series champ Larson had a horrible end to the 26-race regular season, finishing last in the 37-car field, completing just 14 laps before his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet suffered a rare engine failure.

“I guess it was the timing belt maybe or something like that,” Larson said. “I didn’t really have much of an indication. I’m sure they’ll dig through the data and see if it was happening earlier than when it really let go there.

“Bummer. I’m sure we’ll drop a few spots in the points, so that will hurt for the playoffs. But I guess there’s one positive, that I didn’t get caught up in a crash. We’re safe, good to go race next weekend and get our playoffs started.”