Seconds after Austin Dillon tried to make what he hoped would be a race-winning move at Sunday’s Talladega race, he found himself in an uncomfortable position: in the air and looking down at the rest of his competition.
“It was pretty wild,” Dillon said after his #14 car unexpectedly took flight.
“I was watching cars just go underneath. It was like a cool roller coaster ride. You know that (cable) camera that zooms over the start/finish line? That’s what it felt like. Just craziness going under you.”
Dillon was in third place on the last lap of the Camping World RV Sales 500 when he noticed fourth-place #17-Ricky Stenhouse Jr. start to duck out of line and make a move. Since Dillon had planned to make a run to the finish with second-place Dale Earnhardt Jr., he decided to try and block Stenhouse’s move.
But Stenhouse realized what was happening and tried to move back up. When Dillon did the same, they met in the middle and the #14 car suddenly snapped around and was facing oncoming traffic.
“Oh, this is going to be bad,” Dillon said to himself as he saw cars coming at him at 200 mph out of the corner of his eye. He turned the car around the right way as several drivers missed him, but Casey Mears couldn’t avoid him at the last second and plowed right into the back of him.
Remarkably, after Dillon landed, he was able to drive back to the garage and didn’t even require a trip to the infield care center (which is mandatory only if a driver can’t make it back around). He finished 26th
