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Mechanical woes cost Dillon on Sunday

Austin Dillon never even got to see the start of Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 as he spent the first 12 laps of the race in the garage.

Austin Dillon, Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

Austin Dillon, Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

Logan Whitton / NKP / Motorsport Images

Austin Dillon, Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
Austin Dillon, Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
Austin Dillon, Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
Austin Dillon, Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

While the field was running pace laps, Dillon was forced to pull his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet off the track and into the garage at Texas Motor Speedway.

“As soon as I made a pace lap before the race I could feel something was broken,” Dillon said. “We had to go into the garage and make repairs before we could even start the race. Man, it just sucks.

“Everyone knows you’ll have days like that over the course of a 38-race season but no one wants that ever.”

While in the garage, Dillon’s team discovered it needed to fix both the track bar mount and upper control arm on his Chevrolet.

He eventually did return to the race on Lap 13 and finished 33rd.

“We worked hard the entire race just trying to make up laps and gain positions,” Dillon said. “The (car) really was fast today, we just didn’t get a chance to show it.”

Shortly after returning to the race, Dillon’s team owner and grandfather, Richard Childress, apologized to his over the team radio.

“All we can do now is wait for the attrition,” he said. “Sorry about this. It should have never of happened.”

None of the RCR cars had a particularly good day at Texas. Dillon’s teammates, Ryan Newman and Paul Menard, finished 26th and 36th, respectively.

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