Austin Dillon has earned a spot in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, and this time he’ll get to keep it.
Dillon drove the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet to victory in the Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway on Saturday night (Aug. 16), leading 107 laps and defeating Alex Bowman by 2.471 seconds. It is Dillon’s sixth career Cup Series win, and his second straight checkered flag at The Action Track.
While a driver could go 120-135 laps around Richmond on a full tank of fuel; however, the heavy tire wear on the old, worn track surface rendered fuel mileage meaningless under the lights. On average, teams were pitting every 35-50 laps for four fresh tires, and it was tire strategy that played a key role in the race for the win.
The Winning Strategy
Like most teams up and down pit road, Dillon and the No. 3 bunch, led by crew chief Richard Boswell, opted for a two-stop strategy during the 170-lap final stage. Dillon came to the attention of his pit crew on lap 291 for his first stop of the final stage.
Neither driver is giving up. @Blaney and @austindillon3 are duking it out for the top spot! pic.twitter.com/lDSzgdAQXI
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 17, 2025
Then, Dillon found himself in a duel with Ryan Blaney for the lead. On lap 340, shortly after Dillon cleared Blaney for the top spot, Boswell made the call of the race to bring Dillon on pit road for his last pit stop, getting the jump on the No. 12 team. Blaney and Bowman pitted four laps later, but they were too far back to make the most of the slightly fresher rubber.
Toyota Tumbles on Pit Road
Toyotas normally perform on the 0.75-mile short track in Virginia’s capital city, but Saturday night was one to forget the manufacturer. When all was said and done, only one Toyota finished in the top 10, and pit road woes were a big cause of that.
Denny Hamlin
Denny Hamlin thought highly of his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota entering Richmond, calling the car “superb.” The Chesterfield, Va. native backed up that sentiment by placing third in the stage.
But Hamlin’s night began to come undone with the ensuring post-stage one pit stop on lap 74. Hamlin lost several spots with a slow 16.8-second stop when the No. 11 crew dropped the jack too early on the right side of the car. To add insult to injury, Hamlin also got pegged for speeding exiting pit road, sending him to the rear of the field.
Hamlin was in the process of recovering track position, but a second slow stop occurred for the No. 11 on lap 177 as a result of the left front tire taking longer to come loose.
Hamlin bounced back enough to be the lone Toyota in the top 10 in 10th, but the veteran Virginia driver will probably wonder what could have been with a clean night on pit road.
Christopher Bell
Like his JGR teammate, Christopher Bell had not one but two significant pit road issues. During the post stage two caution on lap 234, Bell left his pit stall before the No. 20 crew fully tightened the left front wheel. Before he got too far, Bell backed into his pit stall to get the wheel fastened, avoiding a penalty and suspension for two crew members but losing significant track position.
Bell’s evening went from bad to worse when he drove over the orange commitment box at pit entrance on lap 289. NASCAR penalized Bell with a pass-through penalty under green for the commitment line violation. Bell finished one lap down in 21st.
Ty Gibbs
That was not all the peril on pit road for JGR on Saturday night. Ty Gibbs, facing a must-win playoff situation in the No. 54 Toyota, saw his race get sideways very early with a speeding penalty during his first stop on lap 37. That was not the only time the third-year Cup driver broke the pit road speed limit, getting caught speeding on lap 74 as well.
Between the speeding penalties and late-race brake issues, Gibbs had to settle for 18th in the final running order. He will need a win at Daytona International Speedway next Saturday to make the playoffs.
Unofficial results from @RichmondRaceway
— Joe Gibbs Racing (@JoeGibbsRacing) August 17, 2025
P10 – @dennyhamlin
P13 – @chasebriscoe
P18 – @TyGibbs
P22 – @CBellRacing #TeamToyota pic.twitter.com/Fh5I2GTyDt
John Hunter Nemechek
Speaking of Toyota drivers with multiple pit road penalties, that is what happened to John Hunter Nemechek and the No. 42 Legacy Motor Club team as well. On lap 277, Nemechek was penalized for a commitment line violation, similar to that of Bell. Then, on lap 340, Nemechek made his second appearance on NASCAR’s penalty report for a member of the No. 42 crew being over the wall too soon.
The pit penalties compounded an already rough night for the Nemechek, who finished 11 laps off the pace in 36th.
Bubba Wallace
Finally, we get to 23XI Racing, who dominated the early portion of the race with stage wins by Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick. While Reddick’s chances at the win ended with a lap 180 accident on track, poor execution on pit road sent Wallace falling out of contention.
On lap 291, Wallace left his pit stall with a loose left front wheel, which quickly fell off the No. 23 Toyota. Wallace was able to stop in the pit stall of the No. 19, a fellow Toyota team that helped get the wheel on and send Wallace on his way.
The No. 23 team owes the No. 19 team a steak dinner for this. pic.twitter.com/2jzaTPHhtW
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 17, 2025
However, stopping in another team’s stall did result in a pass-through penalty under green for Wallace, relegating him to a 28th-place finish after a strong start and a stage two win.
For Toyota teams, Saturday night in Richmond was a textbook example of Murphy’s Law: anything that can go wrong will go wrong.
Look Ahead to Next Week
The NASCAR Cup Series will wrap up the regular season and set up the playoff field at the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway next Saturday, Aug. 23. Coverage will begin at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
For pit stops at a superspeedway like Daytona, drivers will need to get on and off of pit road cleanly and together with their manufacturer teammates and draft partners. A slow stop or mistake on pit road, particularly under green, can cause a driver to drop significant track position or even lose the draft altogether.
Also, expect teams who need a win to make the playoffs to take risks that they normally would not make with their strategy.
Andrew Stoddard joined Frontstretch in May of 2022 as an iRacing contributor. He is a graduate of Hampden-Sydney College, the University of Richmond, and VCU. He works as an athletic communications specialist at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va.