Stafford Springs, Conn. (October 13, 2008): Austin Dillon wrapped up a stellar season in the NASCAR Camping World Series East with a fourth place finish in the CarQuest Fall Final 150 at Stafford Motor Speedway. The finish earned the 18-year-old driver the coveted Sunoco Rookie-of-the-Year title and a runner-up position in the final point standings. “I’m very happy with that,” said Dillon after the race. “This is another top-five and I think we were the only car to finish every single lap.
We locked up second in the points and Rookie-of-the-Year so you can’t ask for any more than that your first year out.” Dillon qualified eleventh for the season finale with a qualifying effort of 19.831 seconds (90.767 mph), and played it conservative in the opening laps of the race. By lap five, caution was out on the track and Dillon lined back up in the 11th spot for the restart at lap nine. On lap 20, Dillon began a battle with his closest competitor in the rookie battle, Ricky Carmichael, in turn two.
The duo went side-by-side, but it was Dillon who pulled ahead on lap 21. The move commenced a momentum that put the Team Dillon Racing driver up to the top-five by the halfway mark. Dillon kept his #3 Garage Equipment Supply Chevrolet firmly placed in the rear view mirror of the fourth place car of Trevor Bayne after the 100-lap mark. On a restart at lap 143, Dillon had to contend with the challenges of Jesus Hernandez and briefly dropped back to sixth. Up front, the leaders got confrontational, and began to drop out of the running order.
Dillon moved up to fourth before the checkers dropped. “We had a good run going. We started 11th and were working our way through there. At one point I think we were the fastest car on the track,” Dillon said of his Garage Equipment Supply Chevrolet. “I got marred in there by a few lapped cars. I passed up to the 1 and on that last caution they put us behind the 11. I really don’t know why, but the race is over now and we finished fourth.
I’m happy with that.” Dillon concluded the season with one win, six top-five, and 10 top-10 finishes. His average finish of eighth place throughout the season earned him second place in the final point standings – 210 points behind champion Matt Kobyluck. He was the only driver in the series to complete every lap of every race. Dillon will be honored for his accomplishments at the season-ending awards banquet in December
