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Shock issue led to disqualification of Austin Dillon's Richard Childress Racing truck
By Bob Pockrass - Associate Editor
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Related story: Roush Fenway's Colin Braun wins Truck pole; RCR's Austin Dillon sidelined as time disallowed
TALLADEGA, Ala. – The left front shock of Austin Dillon’s truck was built wrong and had no way to rebound following his qualifying run, which is what caused the Richard Childress Racing truck to fail post-qualifying inspection Friday, team vice president of competition Mike Dillon said Saturday morning at Talladega Superspeedway.
Mike Dillon, Austin’s father, said RCR got the shocks from an outside group that has been helping the team. The error – no bleed shim that would allow the truck to raise to the minimum height after the run – was in the misconstruction of the shock and wasn’t done intentionally, Dillon said.
Because RCR has not attempted all of the Truck events this year, it did not have a guaranteed spot. With the qualifying time disallowed, Dillon failed to make the field for the race today.
“It didn’t have any bleed shims in it – it wasn’t going to come back up,” Mike Dillon said. “It was just a major mistake. It’s embarrassing for us. … It was just an error on the build. It wasn’t purposely done.”
The shock was changed between practice and qualifying, and it slowed the truck down, Dillon said.
“[Austin] did everything he was supposed to do,” Dillon said. “He was good in practice. He got up in the draft … and was really fast. We were like, ‘Wow, we’re going to be OK.’ He was relaxed and really enjoyed it. Just getting comfortable here is what we were trying to do for next year.”
Dillon said he understood that NASCAR had to disallow the time.
“It’s not fair for the other teams whose trucks came through and made it through heights,” Dillon said. “It’s our mistake, not NASCAR’s. They were doing the right thing.”
Mentioned Drivers: Austin Dillon
2009 Sprint Cup Race for the Chase Standings
Driver Standings after the Checker O'Reilly Auto Parts 500
| 1 | Jimmie Johnson | 6492 |
| 2 | Mark Martin | -108 |
| 3 | Jeff Gordon | -169 |
| 4 | Kurt Busch | -211 |
| 5 | Tony Stewart | -285 |
| 6 | Juan Pablo Montoya | -289 |
| 7 | Greg Biffle | -321 |
| 8 | Denny Hamlin | -352 |
| 9 | Ryan Newman | -411 |
| 10 | Kasey Kahne | -476 |
| 11 | Carl Edwards | -520 |
| 12 | Brian Vickers | -666 |
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Comments
8 responses to "Shock issue led to disqualification of Austin Dillon's Richard Childress Racing truck". Post a Comment.
Werner said:
Oct 31, 2009 at 2:29 PMthanks Scene for the explanation.......so we fault an outside source for the shock...Carl Long had the same situation...an outside source for the motor...i don't like to see a young driver's career start like this...
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» Confirm Abuse Reporthucknall007 said:
Oct 31, 2009 at 3:27 PMnow thats a very good point
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» Confirm Abuse Reportnascarnutsheeler said:
Oct 31, 2009 at 5:37 PMI also think this is a hard blow for a proud grandfather.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportipopakeg293388 said:
Oct 31, 2009 at 6:14 PMGreat Attitude on Dillon's part!
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» Confirm Abuse Reportamalycke said:
Oct 31, 2009 at 9:54 PMJust don't cheat. Either stay at home and dream, or just don't cheat ma'n.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportOneWhoWins said:
Oct 31, 2009 at 9:58 PMLet me get this right Dillon rans hot laps and no one noticed the front shock wasn't rebounding...if that's true which it isn't RCR should fire a crew chief...they got caught cheat'n just fess up...
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» Confirm Abuse Reporttinynascarfan said:
Oct 31, 2009 at 11:15 PMThis could be a huge setback for the truck series, RCR having a truck in the series would be very sweet, especially considering Roush pulls out next year, i hope this doesnt scare RCR away from the truck series.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportWerner said:
Nov 1, 2009 at 11:14 AMthey'll be ok...i didn't see any mention of fines or probation for THIS team...seems to me NASCAR likes to put the hammer down on certain teams...
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