NASCAR at Kentucky Speedway
Series: Camping World Truck Series
Race: UNOH 225 (150 laps / 225 miles)
When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday
Series: Xfinity Series
Race: Xfinity 300 (200 laps / 300 miles)
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday
Series: Sprint Cup
Race: Quaker State 400 (267 laps / 400 miles)
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday
A sore but otherwise unscathed Austin Dillon walked through the Richard Childress Racing shop in Welcome, N.C., on Monday — a little slower than usual — visiting with crew members of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team.
One of his stops: the crew member that bolts in the seat and safety equipment on the No. 3 Dow Chevrolet SS.
The Chevy was blown apart after slamming violently into the catch fence at Daytona International Speedway at the conclusion of the Coke Zero 400 early Monday morning. What was left of the No. 3 slid to a stop on its roof before taking another hard hit from Brad Keselowski, who was unable to stop.
Dillon walked away.
“I went and thanked him this morning as soon as I got here for keeping all the bolts tight, doing his job,” Dillon said during a media conference call Tuesday. “Different guys you see are shaken up more by it, but they’re proud of their work and glad it was safe and that I’m safe and we get to go race this weekend at Kentucky.”
Video of the accident is everywhere on social media. Dillon didn’t plan on watching any of it until hearing the concern in the voice of his younger brother, Ty. Then he knew it must have looked bad.
Austin Dillon said he’s heard the No. 3 was traveling around 198 mph when it went airborne after contact during a traditional checkers-or-wreckers finish at Daytona’s historic 2.5-mile, tri-oval super speedway.
“As we came down, I was just kind of talking to myself the whole time, like you’re almost through it, you’re almost through it, hold on, hold on, and then I thought it was over, and then when Brad came through and hit us at the end, it was pretty hard, that last lick,” Dillon said.
The accident marked the third time since 2012 fans were injured at Daytona. Because it was the No. 3 car, it also rekindled memories of Dale Earnhardt’s fatal Daytona accident in 2001. Dillon is the first to drive the No. 3 since Earnhardt, taking it over in 2014.
“What happened to Dale, our sport has taken a whole turn of 360 degrees,” Dillon said. “It’s all about safety, and we’ve been able to learn from our mistakes in the past, and that’s what you have to do. You have to learn from history and develop an innovate new way to make our sport safe, and technology has come a long way.”
Still, Dillon said he’d like for NASCAR to develop a racing package to keep the cars grounded, perhaps a package that would help slow the cars down and avoid accidents.
Dillon, adding he’d had worse injuries playing football, said he had a sore tailbone and groin, mostly from the strap tightening up before the wreck, but had no head or neck pain.
He’ll be back in the No. 3 when the Sprint Cup visits Kentucky Speedway for the Quaker State 400 on Saturday.
“If I can take a lick like that and feel as good as I do right now,” he said, “I feel like I can do anything. You feel like Superman.”
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