Austin Dillon beat the heat and the rest of the field at Texas Motor Speedway to win his first NASCAR race of the season. It was just his third career Cup win.
"Not bad for a silver spoon kid, right?" Dillon said on NBCSN after exiting his No. 3 Chevrolet Camaro in front of screaming fans.
He finished less than half a second ahead of his Richard Childress Racing teammate Tyler Reddick, who finished second at the O'Reilly Auto Parts 500. Joey Logano finished in third place.
"Can't ask for much more than what we got there," Reddick said on NBCSN after the race. "Me and my teammate on the front row there the last couple of restarts."
With under 30 laps left, a caution was called for Quin Houff, which shook up the running order and favored drivers who had pitted earlier in the race. Drivers on the lead lap pitted, but Reddick did not take any tires to win the race off pit road and restart in first. Dillon took two tires and quickly raced past Reddick when the race went green again.
A few laps later, the caution flag came out for contact between Denny Hamlin and Alex Bowman, and the restart came with 11 laps left. Dillon chose the inside lane on the restart and Reddick raced him side-by-side, but Dillon forged ahead. The final caution of the race, which was called again for Hamlin, forced a two-lap shootout between Dillon and Reddick.
Dillon held onto the lead off a big push from Logano, notching a first and second place finish for Richard Childress Racing.
He celebrated in Texas while his wife, Whitney, celebrated with their newborn, Ace, at home. The couple's first child was born in June.
"We're screaming and yelling right now," Whitney said from the family's living room, Ace in arms, on NBCSN. "We're so happy."
