By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer
After surviving a race that saw five cars undamaged, Ty Dillon earned his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Top-10 finish. Dillon’s car was not among the undamaged at the end of the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway.
In two separate overtime attempts, Dillon’s No. 13 GEICO Military Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 avoided trouble. On the first overtime attempt, he pitted coming to the green, fuel pressure issues plaguing his race. That kept him out of the final wreck of the night and left him as one of 11 drivers still in contention for the win. On the final restart, Dillon jumped from 11thto sixth in the chaotic run to the checkered flag.
Dillon’s fuel pressure issues first arose on lap 53. He dropped to the apron, allowing the field by on the restart before regaining pressure. A lap later, a block from William Byron, and a bad bump from Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., sent Brad Keselowski spinning in front of the entire field. 25 more cars piled into the wreck as the track quickly became blocked.
In the absolute chaos, Dillon spun in the fluid, water, and debris field in turn three. Although he kept his car out of the wall, his Germain Racing Chevrolet suffered minor damage transitioning from the apron to the banking.
The sixth-place finish was the first Top-10 of Dillon’s career, coming in his 72nd career start. He remained 29th in the Championship Points Standings, 505-points behind Championship Points Leader Kyle Busch, and 182-points behind the cutoff for the Playoffs, held by Alex Bowman.
Dillon briefly led three laps during the Stage 2 break. Those were his first laps led of the 2018 season.
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