NASCAR 2022: Austin Dillon breaks into playoff spots with win at Daytona; pushes Martin Truex Jr. out

Driving the #3 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, Austin Dillon snatched the playoff spot by winning the regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway, in his only hope of making the 16-driver playoff field. The 32-year-old secured his first win of the 2022 season after beating Austin Cindric and Tyler Reddick in the closing laps of the 400-mile-long Coke Zero Sugar 400.

His win eliminated Martin Truex Jr. and handed the final playoff spot to All-Star Race winner Ryan Blaney.

Austin Dillon survived a massive crash in Turn 1 on Lap 138 and took the lead before rain stopped the race. After a halt of more than three hours, he restarted the lead on Lap 145 but quickly fell behind Cindric.

The 32-year-old emerged victorious when he put the bumper to race leader Cindric in Turn 1, taking the lead back with three laps to go and holding off his teammate Reddick on the closing laps to take an impressive 0.128-second lead to win at the 2.5-mile-long Superspeedway.

The win marked his second win at Daytona International Speedway and the overall 4th Cup victory for the Welcome-North Carolina native.

On Twitter, NASCAR congratulated Austin Dillon on winning his first Cup Series race of the season and securing a NASCAR playoffs spot at Daytona International Speedway.

See the Tweet below:

The Coke Zero Sugar 400 saw 39 lead changes among 19 different drivers. The venue hosted its 64th Cup race and the new Next Gen cars for the second time on the 2.5-mile-long Superspeedway and witnessed seven caution flags.

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Austin Dillon talks about his Coke Zero Sugar 400 win

Sunday’s win was amazing for Austin Dillon and the #3 Richard Childress Racing team as he locked his spot in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs and now has a chance to race for the 2022 championship. With the win, he gained 41 points and stands 16th in the latest release of the Cup Series points table.

During the post-race interview, speaking about his first win of the 2022 season at Daytona International Speedway, Dillon said:

“What a crazy race. I’ve got to thank my teammate Tyler Reddick, everybody that makes this thing happen. Man, we’re in the playoffs! I knew I had a teammate back there and we were in pretty good shape. Gave (Austin Cindric) a little too much push there, got him loose and we went going.”

The NASCAR Cup Series returns next weekend for the Cook Out Southern 500, the first race of the playoffs at Darlington Raceway. The action will go live at 6:00 pm ET on Sunday, September 4, 2022.