North Carolina

Dillon wins Coca-Cola 600 for first NASCAR Cup victory

CONCORD, N.C. — Hall of Fame car owner Richard Childress finally let the emotions flow when he looked up at the Charlotte Motor Speedway's scoring board after the Coca-Cola 600 and saw the iconic No. 3 - driven by his grandson Austin Dillon - on top.

"Can you believe it?" Childress asked. "The Coke 600, Austin Dillon and the (No.) 3."

Dillon passed an out-of-gas Jimmie Johnson two laps from the end for his first Cup victory.

[IMAGES from the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway]

It had been a long time coming for the number made famous by the late Dale Earnhardt, who drove for Childress during six of his seven championships. The last time the two celebrated was when Earnhardt won at Talladega on Oct. 15, 2000, four months before The Intimidator's death in a horrific crash at Daytona.

"Today is special," Childress said.

Especially with how Dillon accomplished it. Crew chief Justin Alexander decided that while much of the field would pit with about 35 to go, Dillon would stay out and gamble he'd have enough fuel to make it.

"It didn't make much sense to do anything else but that, really," said Alexander, who replaced Slugger Labbe as Dillon's crew chief last Monday.

When Dillon saw Johnson run dry right ahead, he felt relieved and excited all at once. The No. 3, Dillon said, "was the best of all time. I'm just glad to add to the legacy of it."

Dillon held off Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr., who led the most laps in the Coca-Cola 600 for a third straight year.

"It hasn't sunk in. I can't believe it," Dillon said. "We're in the chase, baby. It's awesome."

Dillon did his signature belly slide celebration in the damp grass at Charlotte, outlasting a rain delay of nearly 1 hour, 40 minutes - and several established drivers to take his first checkered flag.

Dillon closed racing's biggest day with the surprise victory, following Sebastian Vettel's win in Formula One's Monaco Grand Prix and Takura Sato's victory in the Indy 500.

Truex took the lead for the final time with 67 laps left, sweeping past Busch to move out front. Truex pitted a final time with 33 laps left, confident he'd be able to hold on after everyone cycled through a last stop.

Truex has led 756 of the past 1,200 laps in the 600, yet finished shy of the checker flag two of three times. "So that's a little tough to swallow," he said.

Matt Kenseth was fourth, and Denny Hamlin fifth.

Kurt Busch finished sixth, followed by rookie Erik Jones, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Newman and Dale Earnhardt Jr., who finished 10th in his final Coca-Cola 600 as a fulltime driver.

Harvick, who started on the pole, overcame wheel problems to finish in the top 10 for a seventh straight time in the Coca-Cola 600.

Johnson limped home to finish in 17th.

"I did all that I could from that point and just came up a little bit short," he said.

Harvick may have had to work harder than the rest of the field for his seventh straight top 10 here. Harvick dealt with a loose-fitting wheel much of the first 200 laps to fall a lap down, then slipped on some slick fluid laid down by Ty Dillon to fall back further. But Harvick, who won here in 2011 and 2013, held strong to end in eighth.

Larson, the series points leader coming in, was expected to vie for his first Coca-Cola 600. Instead, he started 39th when he couldn't take a qualifying lap Thursday because of trouble clearing inspection. Larson got as high as third during the race before scraping the wall with 153 laps left and needing three trips to the pits to correct the problems, falling to 23rd. Larson's chances ended for good when he tagged the wall again 45 laps later, went to the garage and did not return. He was 33rd, his worst finish of the season.

Larson said he got loose in Turn 3 to end his race.

"I made a mistake," he said.

WHO'S HOT: Kyle Busch sure does love Charlotte Motor Speedway. He won the truck race and the All-Star race here last week, then qualified second for the Cup race Sunday night. Busch nearly walked away with the Coca-Cola 600 when he moved past teammate Denny Hamlin at the start of the fourth and final stage to take the lead over Martin Truex Jr. Busch held strong until the restart with 67 laps left following a caution brought out by Danica Patrick's brush with the wall as Truex moved back. Busch got back to second on the last lap, but ran out of raceway to chase down Dillon.

WHO'S NOT: Chase Elliott was hoping to finally land his first victory on the season at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Instead, his chances ended less than 25 laps into the race when he ran over pieces of Jeffrey Earnhardt's crumbling car and could not gain traction as Brad Keselowski slammed into the rear of the No. 24 Chevrolet. Elliott started third and looked like a strong contender for NASCAR's longest race. Instead, it continues an alarming downward trend for one of the sport's youngest guns with his fourth consecutive finish of 24 or worse. "It's just disappointing," Elliott said.

UP NEXT: The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series moves to Dover International Speedway next Sunday.

Family affair: Dillon brings iconic No. 3 to victory lane

Richard Childress wasn't going to let just anyone drive the iconic black No. 3 Chevrolet following the death of the legendary Dale Earnhardt 16 years ago.

It had to be someone special.

"To put my grandson in that car was unbelievable," Childress said.

Four years after that emotional and somewhat controversial decision to bring the No. 3 back, Austin Dillon delivered with his first Series Cup victory early Monday at the Coca-Cola 600, a victory that resonated with Earnhardt fans across the country and left his grandfather on the verge of tears.

Childress said the moment didn't sink in until he looked up at the board after the race.

"When I saw the 3 on top, that is when I got emotional," Childress said. "It's so special to see that 3 on top of the board and know that my grandson is in the car."

Dillon said capturing his first Cup Series win in the No. 3 car took some pressure off him.

"He was the best of all time," Dillon said of Earnhardt. "And I am glad to add to the legacy of it. And I want to keep adding."

Childress said he never doubted the decision to bring back the No. 3 and rarely goes anywhere without fans telling him how thankful they are he made the decision.

"Nothing will ever replace Dale Earnhardt, but we wanted to carry it over for the fans," Childress said.

Some things we learned from the Coca-Cola 600:

TOUGH LUCK TRUEX: Martin Truex Jr. has dominated the Coca-Cola 600 the last three years, but only has one win to show for it.

Truex has led 63 percent (756 of 1,200) of the laps at Charlotte Motor Speedway the last three years, but has lost twice on fuel mileage.

"This is the third year in a row we led the most laps and felt like we had a chance to win and two out of the three we lost on fuel mileage," Truex said. "So that's a little tough to swallow. But I can't say enough about my team. It's tough to come up short on fuel mileage, but we have been on this side of it before."

LARSON'S TOUGH WEEK: Kyle Larson's 10-day stay in Charlotte was filled with disappointment.

The Cup Series points leader's run at a Coca-Cola 600 championship ended late in the third stage when he hit the wall in turn three at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Larson had only one finish outside of the top 25 this season until Sunday when he finished 33rd.

"I made a mistake and got loose," Larson said.

Larson's struggles started in qualifying when he failed to pass pre-race inspection and was forced to start at the back of the field.

Larson also had some bad luck at the All-Star race last week. He won the first two segments and appeared to be set up to take home the $1 million prize before a slow pit stop cost him valuable position in the 10-lap shootout portion of the race.

BUSCH ANGRY: Kyle Busch was noticeably upset in the press room after finishing second to Dillon and failing to win his first Cup Series race at Charlotte.

When asked if he's surprised that Dillon had enough gas to reach the finish line, Busch said, "I'm not surprised by anything."

Busch is now 0 for 27 in Cup races here.

THE WRECK: Some of the pre-race favorites were eliminated early as Brad Keselowski crashed into the back of Chase Elliott's car just 20 laps into the race, ending the night for both drivers. The chain reaction occurred after metal debris from Jeffrey Earnhardt's car flew into Elliott's car causing his car to catch fire. Keselowski couldn't avoid Elliott because of the oil on the track.

EARNHARDT A NON-FACTOR

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was hoping for his first Cup Series win at Charlotte - a place that had holds fond memories for him - but was not a major factor. He ran in the teens most of the night before finishing 10th.