Austin Dillon climbed behind the wheel of the No. 33 Rheem Chevrolet for the third time this season as the NASCAR Nationwide Series returned to Nashville Superspeedway. Dillon, who won the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event Friday night, qualified the Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) Chevrolet in the fourth position and maintained track position among the top 10 throughout the 225-lap event before coming across the finish line third, the driver’s career-best finish in 10 Nationwide Series starts.
With the wave of the green flag, the 43-car field came to life at Nashville on Saturday night. Dillon was shuffled from his fourth-place starting position to the fifth spot in the first laps around the 1.333-mile track. As the young driver settled into a rhythm, he radioed to crew chief David Hyder that the Rheem Chevrolet was a little free in the center of the turns.
Dillon moved back to the fourth position by lap 20 where he remained until the KHI team’s first scheduled green-flag pit stop on lap 60. Hyder called the Rheem Chevrolet down pit road for four tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment to help tighten the vehicle. Dillon returned to the track and as the field cycled through the green-flag stops, maintained the fourth position.
The first yellow flag of the night waved for debris on lap 82. Dillon, running in the fourth position at the time of caution, relayed that the Rheem Chevrolet was slightly tight in the center of the turns, but he felt no adjustments would be needed. The driver guided the No. 33 to pit road for two right-side tires and fuel as he returned to the track in the second position for the lap 87 restart.
After tight, door-to-door racing on the restart, Dillon slid back to the third spot, but the 21-year-old quickly muscled his way back to the second position by lap 91. On lap 117, Dillon passed the No. 22 car of Brad Keselowski for the race lead and kept the KHI car in the top spot for four laps until the No. 60 car of Carl Edwards reached the inside of Dillon in turns three and four. As the No. 60 car came to the inside, the No. 33 Rheem Chevrolet became loose and wiggled out of the lead.
The Rheem machine settled into the second position as the second caution of the event came on lap 128 for a car spinning down the backstretch. Hyder called Dillon to pit road where the team bolted on four fresh tires, added fuel and made a chassis adjustment to help tighten the Chevrolet.
Teams used a variety of pit strategies on pit road during the caution, with some opting for two tires and others four tires. Because of the varying strategies, Dillon moved from second to the fifth position for the lap 135 restart. By lap 142, the driver moved into the fourth position and continued to run lap times consistent with the race leader. With less than 50 laps to go to the end of the event, the yellow flag waved for the third time. Still tight in the center of the turns, Dillon brought the KHI Chevrolet down pit road for two right-side tires and fuel as well as air-pressure and chassis adjustments. A solid stop by the Rheem crew put the driver in the lead for the lap 183 restart.
Back under green, Dillon fought in a three-wide battle to maintain the lead as the cars raced out of turns one and two. As the pack came out of turn four toward the frontstretch, he settled into the third position. The race continued under green-flag conditions to the end and time ran out for Dillon to retake the lead. The driver brought home a third-place finish, the No. 33 team’s ninth top-five and 13th top-10 finish in 20 races this season.
The Nationwide Series heads to Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis for the Kroger 200 on Saturday with Dillon in the No. 33 Menards Chevrolet. Tune in to ESPN at 7:30 p.m. ET to watch the night race live and MRN at 7:30 p.m. ET.
Quotes from the driver:
“Nashville is a cool place. We had a shot at a sweep and that’s all you can ask for in a weekend. We had a great Rheem Chevrolet. I can’t thank Kevin and DeLana [Harvick], Rheem and Chevrolet enough for the opportunity. I can’t wait to get back in this KHI car next weekend. It was so fast. Hopefully we get it into victory lane at Lucas Oil Raceway.”