Austin Dillon One Spot Shy of Making Clash Field: 'It Just Sucks'
Austin Dillon badly wanted to advance to the Main Event of Sunday night's NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium, as his grandfather Richard Childress was a longtime competitor at The Madhouse prior to his NASCAR Cup Series driving days. However, after a hard-fought Last Chance Qualifier Race, Dillon wound up one spot shy of advancement with a third-place finish.
The 34-year-old racer believes he did everything in his power to move into the Main Event field, but at the end of the day, his car just lacked a little bit of competitiveness, and it was the last little bit he needed to move from being the first man on the outside looking in, to being the last man to earn his way into the Clash.
"You know, I felt we were as aggressive as we could be, obviously," Dillon explained. "Put ourselves in a good position, and when [Larson] started running [Berry] down, I felt like that was my only shot. We didn't really have enough forward drive to really be good enough. I managed the tires as [well] as I could, but we needed just a little bit more in our car to finish where we were running, like second there."
On a mid-race restart, while running second, Dillon discovered that he could keep his momentum rolling from the high lane, as he was able to knife his way down in front of third place before reaching Turns 3 and 4. Unfortunately, on the next restart, Dillon choosing the high lane didn't pan out.
"I had a decent run off of [Turn] 2, and I haven't seen the replay yet, but I got shoved way out there and then it was like three wide and I went back to like seventh," Dillon recalled.
It would have been easy to throw in the towel, but Dillon got back up on the wheel and began to rally back through the field. However, the comeback rally ran out of steam one spot shy.
"I was able to come from seventh back to third," Dillon said. "I don't know, I think we were a second to third-place car if we didn't have all of the stuff going on. The damage, the hitting. But, I had a blast out there. I really did. If you're a fan you had to enjoy some of that, it was pretty wild, obviously. I just wish we would have been in the race, obviously for a lot of reasons. My grandfather, Winchester, Bass Pro Shops, but I fought my tail off. I thought I drove about as hard as I could."
While Dillon doesn't love the feeling of being one position shy of making it to the Main Event, the driver of the No. 3 Chevrolet says poor performance in qualifying and the Heat Races relegated him to have to try to make something happen with his back against the wall.
"One spot, yeah, I mean, it's -- I don't know the best analogy, but it sucks. It just sucks," Dillon stated emphatically. "Have to do better in the qualifying races, gotta do better in qualifying and you don't put yourself in that situation."
Ahead of Sunday's Last Chance Qualifier Race, Adam Stern of Sports Business Journal reported on X that NASCAR could look to move The Clash to another venue in 2026, perhaps even a track outside of the country.
.@NASCAR is using its season-opening Clash exhibition this year to go back to a classic venue that the Cup Series hasn't run at since 1971 in Bowman Gray Stadium, but next year the event could be held overseas, possibly Brazil, as the racing property also looks to grow globally. pic.twitter.com/1wwe3TVQTq
— Adam Stern (@A_S12) February 2, 2025
If The Clash is one-and-done at Bowman Gray Stadium, Dillon would love to see the track remain on the schedule in a different non-points event.
"All-Star Race would be interesting, I mean, North Wilkesboro has got it now. I think we should come back here another time. I mean, they've put a lot of work and effort into the track, here," Dillon explained. "Entertainment value, I mean, I was sitting there under the red flag and it felt like I was at a rock and roll concert out there with the fans. Plenty of middle fingers flying in the air, so, that means they were in it. This had to be good for the people who were here. Worth the ticket price."
The two drivers who advanced by way of the Last Chance Qualifier were race-winner Kyle Larson, and runner-up finisher Josh Berry. 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney also advanced by being the highest-finishing driver in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series championship standings, who had yet to advance to the Main Event field.
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Toby Christie is the Editor-in-Chief of Racing America. He has 15 years of experience as a motorsports journalist and has been with Racing America since 2023.