Ty Dillon and the No. 10 Kaulig Racing team started Saturday’s Quaker State 400 at EchoPark Speedway from the 14th position and earned a season-best eighth-place finish. Dillon ran the majority of the opening stage in the top 20 before receiving a penalty at the end of the stage for a pit road violation. Starting the second stage deep in the field, Dillon was able to avoid mayhem on the restart when the caution was immediately displayed. Continuing to make moves and advance through the field, Dillon returned to the top 20 on lap 77 and the top 10 on lap 109. Running as high as third in the final stage, Dillon crossed the finish line solidly in the eighth position.
“Our Mark III Camaro was awesome. I have to thank Matt Kaulig and Chris Rice for giving me an opportunity of a lifetime. These are the best cars I’ve ever driven and we’re building confidence and momentum week in and week out. We’ve had a lot of speed this year and just haven’t gotten the results, and it’s nice to get the result on a day like today. We’re building confidence and this is a great start to continue our climb.”
Early in the race, Allmendinger reported his Chevy was tight in traffic but he could run the bottom well. After the delay for weather, the team pit for four tires and fuel before restarting in 21st on lap 48. By lap 52, Allmendinger had driven up to 13th before being involved in a caution on lap 57. The team was able to make damage repairs on pit road and restart in 38th on lap 68. The caution was displayed on the restart for a wreck that collected a majority of the field. Allmendinger avoided the wreck while driving up to 13th place and came to pit road for tires and fuel to restart in 14th. Throughout the remainder of the night, Allmendinger stayed near the back of the pack to avoid more damage to the No. 16 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevy. Allmendinger went on to finish in 12th place, advancing him to the second round of the In-Season Tournament after finishing six positions higher than Michael McDowell.
“Honestly, not sure how to take the day. We had a really fast LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevy. The car was really good that first stage and I thought we had a real shot at the end of that stage, with the right couple of moves, to get up there and score some points. We got caught up in that wreck but our guys did a good job to fix it and the car still pretty good. I was never really overly comfortable to make some big moves there at the end of the race. I was trying to get myself in position, but just never did a good job of that. Proud of the guys and their effort; definitely improvement from the first race. I would love to have seen what we could have done without the damage, but that’s the way this racing goes. It’s all part of it, and we were able to get a decent finish at the end of that day.”
