Rockingham: Ty Dillon race report

Ty Dillon wins ARCA race at Rockingham Speedway

ROCKINGHAM, N.C. (AP) -- Ty Dillon took the lead from Patrick Sheltra on a restart with 41 laps to go and led the rest of the way to win the ARCA Racing Series' season-ending American 200 on Saturday at Rockingham Speedway.

Sheltra held on to finish fourth and claim the series championship over Craig Goess, who was just behind in fifth. Sheltra began with the race with a five-point advantage and did his part, leading a race-high 74 laps and staying in the top five throughout. The final point differential was 20 points.

"This place is historical," Sheltra said. "When you look in the past at the people who have won championships here, it's amazing to me. There has been so much history here."

Dillon, the 18-year-old grandson of famed NASCAR owner Richard Childress, also won in the series last week at Kansas, and he has plans to run for the ARCA title in 2011. After starting sixth, Dillon patiently rode solidly in the top 10 and waited for the right moment to show all the speed he had in his Chevrolet.

That came on that late restart, when he took the green in second behind Sheltra's No. 60. Dillon dipped low down the backstretch and took the lead before the pair reached Turn 3.

"I knew the 60 was fast, and I knew I was going to have to give it all I had," Dillon said. "I never really showed that, just at the end, and pushed it to the limit. It impressed me a little bit."

Once out front, Dillon steadily drove away and won by nearly 9 seconds. Pole-sitter Kevin Swindell rallied from a slow pit stop early in the race to finish second, followed by Chad Finley. Finley qualified second but was moved to the back of the starting grid after his crew changed the rear end on his Toyota after he already had been through pre-race inspection.

Frank Kimmel, who was running fifth in front of Goess in the final laps, moved out of the way with five to go to allow the two championship contenders to race each other. It hardly mattered, since as it turned out, Goess would have needed to win the race for a chance at the title.

He had a hard time even catching Sheltra, and wasn't very happy about the outcome immediately after the race during an interview session in the media center.

"I'm ready to go, not in the best of spirits," Goess said. "I didn't see today working out the way it did. We did the best we could with what we had."

Tom Hessert, who trailed Sheltra by 20 points coming into the race, finished 19th and came up 105 points short.

Dillon continued an impressive run for his family in 2010. His older brother, Austin, has won two races and five poles in the NASCAR Camping World Trucks Series and likely will win rookie of the year. Sheltra, meanwhile, doesn't plan to defend his title next season, hoping to move up to NASCAR.

He knows Dillon will be hard to beat.

"I think he'll have it wrapped up," Sheltra said.

-source: rcr