Loudon, NH (September 13, 2008) - Austin Dillon drove the #3 Garage Equipment Supply Chevrolet to a fifth place finish at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Saturday, and moved up to second in the point standings. Dillon battled a tight-handling racecar in the early laps, but rallied back in the final 25 laps.“This was a great effort by Team Dillon Racing, and we’ll go to Dover with some momentum,” said Dillon after the race. “We had a good finish, and that’s all we needed. If we can close out the year with a few more top-five’s we’ll be happy.”
The 18-year-old driver started 15th in qualifying after turning a lap of 31.610 seconds (124.430 mph), and quickly realized that his Garage Equipment Supply Chevrolet was going to need an adjustment. When the first caution flew at lap 10, Dillon brought his machine to the attention of his pit crew.“We were definitely too tight so we came in and made some adjustments,” he explained.Dillon restarted the race at the tail end of the field, but felt an immediate improvement in the handling. He would have to return to pit road, however, when NASCAR discovered that the rookie stripe was missing from the rear bumper.“That was a mistake on our part, but we’re going to get that fixed. That cost us the lead early. I think we could have gotten to the front with pit strategy,” Dillon admitted.Racing resumed at lap 22 with the young driver maintaining his position in eleventh during the long green flag run that ensued. After the halfway mark, Dillon decided it was time to go, and by lap 97 was running fifth.During a caution at lap 93, some of the front-running cars elected to head to pit road for fresh right side tires. Team Dillon Racing decided track position was more important and restarted the race on lap 97 in the fifth position, where he remained until the checkers dropped 28 laps later.“It was definitely a good run for us,” said Dillon. “We’re happy with it. Consistency is very important in the points and that’s what we’ll need to end the year on top.”
