Austin Dillon Tyler Reddick | The MotorSportsNews.Net(work)

RCR Post Race Report – Supermarket Heroes 500

by MikeJune 1, 2020

Hard Work and Teamwork Contribute to Austin Dillon and the No. 3 Symbicort (budesonide/formoterol fumarate dihydrate) Chevrolet Team’s Sixth-Place Finish at Bristol Motor Speedway

	6th
	20th
	16th

“A sixth-place finish for the No. 3 car! The Symbicort (budesonide/formoterol fumarate dihydrate) Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 was good when it mattered. We worked really hard today. It was a hard-fought battle. The car was tight. We cut a right-front tire, and Goodyear said they didn’t know what happened to the tire, but we recovered. We made some great adjustments throughout the race to improve the handling. We were pretty fast at the end of the race. Justin Alexander made a great call to take tires with 38 laps remaining, and it showed. I can’t believe the No. 2 car won. It just shows you have to stay in these races until the end. We were racing him right before the last caution came out, and he goes on to win the race. We’re getting there. I love how these races are playing out. We’re getting closer and closer to a win. We’re headed to Atlanta Motor Speedway next week, and we will be ready.”

-Austin Dillon

Tyler Reddick and the Alsco Uniforms Team Have Day at Bristol Motor Speedway Cut Short Due to On-Track Incident

	36th
	21st
	18th

“Well, unfortunately we had an early end to my NASCAR Cup Series debut at Bristol Motor Speedway. We had a handful with the balance of our Alsco Uniforms Chevrolet today and weren’t quite where we needed to be to start the race. We worked really hard though and got it to where I thought it needed to be. We were even able to start clicking off some top-five lap times and just needed some track position to get up there and start contending. We had started to weed away at that, and I’m confident we would have gotten up there. I could run the top lane pretty well, which was helping a lot. It’s unfortunate, but it’s a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time at Bristol. I saw the No. 47 get spun, and I saw him go down, but then I couldn’t see him anymore. I was worried if I checked up too much I’d get caught up in it, but it didn’t matter and I got caught up in it anyway. Just a tough situation and a tough way to end our day.”

-Tyler Reddick

RCR Post Race Report – Alsco Uniforms 500

by MikeMay 29, 2020

Austin Dillon and The No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Off Road/E-Z-GO Chevrolet Team Cap Off Strong Charlotte Motor Speedway Run with Top-10 Finish

	8th
	7th
	15th

“We finished eighth in the Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Off Road/E-Z-GO Chevrolet. A top-10 finish is what we deserved in both this race, and in the Coca-Cola 600 this past Sunday. It’s crazy. We’ve run 900 miles at Charlotte Motor Speedway over the past few days and we were an eighth-place car for all of it. We had spurts where we were really fast – top five at times. Justin Alexander, the pit crew, my spotter Brandon, everybody did a great job. It was fun. I had fun on the restarts, and we were able to pick up some Stage points. We were just a little too free tonight. It was good on the long runs because it was free, but during the first 10 laps if you didn’t get going you would lose a couple of spots. We needed a little better take off speed. We’ll keep working. Bristol Motor Speedway is next. I’m loving it. A lot of miles in a short period of time.”

-Austin Dillon

Tyler Reddick Forges to 14th-Place Finish with Okuma Chevrolet at Charlotte Motor Speedway

	14th
	13th
	17th

“Man, what an up and down night for our No. 8 Okuma Chevrolet team. We worked hard and we were able to grab a top-15 finish. The biggest challenge was managing the balance tonight. For the first two stages of the race, we were too tight on entry and exit of the turns and way too loose in the middle. It made it really hard to trust the car as we went into the corners of the track. The adjustment my Richard Childress Racing team made during the final stop of the race was the best one of the night and allowed me to race up through the field and into the top 15. We just lacked some long run speed tonight to stay up there and battle within the top 10. That’s something we’ll go back and look at to improve on for future intermediate tracks. It’s been fun racing in our backyard of Charlotte over the past week, but I’m looking forward to moving on to Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday.”

-Tyler Reddick

RCR Post Race Report – Coca-Cola 600

by MikeMay 25, 2020

Strong Stage Points Day for Austin Dillon and the No. 3 Coca-Cola Chevrolet Team in Season’s Longest Race

	14th
	6th
	18th

“The Coca-Cola 600 is one of my favorite races of the year because Charlotte Motor Speedway is my home track, and there is nothing that compares to racing on Memorial Day weekend and honoring our military. I feel so honored to be able to race this weekend for Chief Special Warfare Operator Eric F. Shellenberger with a very patriotic Coca-Cola paint scheme. I feel really good overall, physically, which is a good thing after a 600-mile race. We ran in the top 10 all night, and earned Stage points at the conclusion of Stage 1, Stage 2 and Stage 3. We had a really solid No. 3 Coca-Cola Chevrolet. We ran up front in the top five, and we ran some of the fastest times of the race. I’m bummed that we ran that strong all night long and then gave it away at the end. When the caution flag came out at the end of the race, we decided that if a couple of cars pitted we were going to stay out. I actually said that if all of the cars stayed out, I was going to pit. Not all of the cars stayed out, though. I thought more would stay out. In hindsight, we probably should have came in and got two tires. The No. 18 car was running one position in front of us, came and got two and ended up fifth. You just never know. If you get the outside it makes a difference. My teammate, Tyler Reddick, got the outside and ended up being able to maintain. I should have known. We were too tight at the end of the race. I drove the wheels off of it, and when the caution came out we were just a little overconfident. We wanted another good finish. It worked for us at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. All in all, we had a top 10 car. We ran eighth to ninth on average all night long. It was still a good effort, and I’m excited about having the chance to come back here for a mid-week race on Wednesday. We have good cars at RCR. We have proven that we can run up front. We just have to get those finishes.”

-Austin Dillon

Tyler Reddick Earns Top-10 Finish in First Coca-Cola 600 with Alsco Uniforms Chevrolet Team

	8th
	5th
	16th

“Well, the longest night of racing is in the books. I’m proud of the effort our No. 8 Alsco Uniforms Chevrolet team gave tonight. We fought hard all night to make our car better, and we took a gamble at the end, which almost paid off for us. The track just didn’t do quite what I hoped it would do tonight, but we still found a way to get a top 10 out of the race. We fired off really strong tonight and had a shot at the pole in qualifying. After the brief rain storm, it was tough to get the balance nailed down to where we needed it to be. I was too loose in Turns 1 and 2 but then too tight in Turns 3 and 4. We tried a lot of different adjustments and strategy calls to try to adjust the handling, and hit on something during that second to last caution of the night. Randall Burnett and my team were able to get our car loosened up just enough for me to run up through the field from 15th to 10th. From there, we decided to stay out and go for it on that green-white-checkered, and almost got a top-five finish out of it. I learned a lot tonight that I think we can take into account when we return to Charlotte Motor Speedway on Wednesday to help with our long run handling and speed. This is definitely a finish we can build on. 400 laps and 600 miles are done, and we’ll be ready to come back on Wednesday night. It was an honor to have SGT. Norman L. Tollett’s name above my windshield tonight, and I hope we made his friends and family proud.”

-Tyler Reddick

RCR Post Race Report – Darlington 300

by MikeMay 21, 2020

	20th
	10th
	21st

“Wednesday night NASCAR Cup Series racing – how great is that for our industry to pull together and make that work. I hope all of the fans enjoyed tuning in. I know a lot went into it. We started off the race with a tight-handling Dow Keep America Beautiful Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and that proved to be our challenge all race long. Handling issues plagued us in Stages 1, 2 and 3. I thought for sure that we were going to be able to get our Chevy freed up, but we never could. It wasn’t for lack of effort. The team never gave up and made adjustments all race long. That’s just the way it goes sometimes.The weather was much different than it was last Sunday. Cooler weather, rain and temperatures dropping didn’t play into our hands. We wanted a little more heat in the track. Even though it turned into a long race and we didn’t get the finish we were hoping for, I know we have it in us. I think we can find some speed heading into Charlotte Motor Speedway and the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday. It feels good to be back racing and I want to thank everyone at Dow, Keep America Beautiful and all of the fans who tuned in.”

-Austin Dillon

Tyler Reddick and the No. 8 Caterpillar Chevrolet Team Battle Through Tough-Handling Conditions for 13th-Place Finish at Darlington Raceway

	13th
	14th
	17th

“Man, we had to fight hard for that finish, and I’m proud of my No. 8 Caterpillar team for sticking together tonight. We weren’t exactly where we needed to be to fire off and missed the handling a little bit for the first half of the race. I kept bouncing from being too tight to too loose, but mostly too tight. It honestly felt different every lap we ran, which made it tough to decide which way to keep adjusting. I made a slight rookie mistake at one point and got some damage after a brush with the wall, but my team helped get back after it. I have to hand it all my guys. They kept after it and worked really hard to make the changes we needed to pick our way back through the field. We were in a good spot for that final restart in the 11th position, but restarting on the bottom is tough here and we slipped back a couple spots to 13th. That’s just a product of the restarts here. The top lane is so good that it’s almost impossible to stop that momentum. We’ll take it though and move on to the Coca-Cola 600. We’re going twice the distance there, more than I’ve ever gone in a race, so minimizing mistakes will be key. I’m looking forward to the challenge.”

-Tyler Reddick

RCR Race Recap – Real Heroes 400, Darlington Raceway

by MikeMay 18, 2020

Late-Race Momentum Helps Austin Dillon and the No. 3 Symbicort (budesonide/formoterol fumarate dihydrate) Chevrolet Team Finish Strong at Darlington Raceway

	11th
	16th
	18th

“Good job NASCAR. That was awesome to be able to pull off a race like that at Darlington Raceway. This place is great. I love this track. It can be so frustrating, and then so fun at the same time. We finished 11th in the No. 3 Symbicort (budesonide/formoterol fumarate dihydrate) Chevrolet. We had a really fast Chevy at the end of the race. We ran the No. 42 car down from way back, but we didn’t have enough time to pass him for 10th. I messed around too much early in the last run. That was a fun race. Both RCR entries were good today. The No. 8 Caterpillar Chevrolet was amazing. I think we can look at both of our setups and learn something, maybe a mix between the two setups for Wednesday night’s race. I want to thank everybody from AstraZeneca, and all of our partners. It was a huge accomplishment for our industry to come back, and to be successful. I missed the fans, for sure. I was worried it wasn’t going to feel like a race, but when you put the helmet on and got into the car, it was a race. It was nice to be out there racing. Thanks to everybody who put this on.”

-Austin Dillon

Tyler Reddick Earns Career-Best NASCAR Cup Series Finish in the No. 8 Caterpillar Chevrolet at Darlington Raceway

	7th
	29th
	20th

“We’re officially back to racing, and it feels great. Our first day back in the No. 8 Caterpillar Chevrolet was a little rough around the edges at times, but starting out in the 29th spot and racing our way into the top five in the first 125 laps was just an outstanding kick off to our race. It felt like we were bouncing right back into our good momentum that we had at Phoenix Raceway before this break. It was a hot, slick track for sure today, which I love. We also saw the track change quite a bit. Our No. 8 Caterpillar Chevrolet was really good and took off so well at the start of the race, that it was tough to adjust on it throughout the day. We really needed to though as the track changed, so that’s something I think we can look to improve on for Wednesday’s race. It was a wild day for us though. We had a piece of debris come off the wall and stick to our splitter, which slowed one of our pit stops as we tried to get it all off. That caused a slight pit road miscue with a tire and sent us to the tail of the line, forcing us to fight back from 29th one more time. We never gave up, and all in all, it was a great day. A seventh place finish is a great way to come back, and we’ll look to build momentum from here. The good news is, we get to come back Wednesday night and try to finish seven spots better.”

-Tyler Reddick