A look at Austin Dillon’s 2012 Nationwide Series Run – NASCAR Special
Having claimed the 2011 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series title, Austin Dillon decided to move up the ladder and raced in a full-time Nationwide Series schedule for the first time in his NASCAR career.
Fielding for Richard Childress Racing, Dillon had an exceptional season keeping in mind that it was his first full-time Nationwide run. He clinched 2 victories, 15 top-5 finishes, 10 top-10 finishes and a 3rd place on drivers’ championship standings with
a total of 1227 championship points.
Racing his Chevrolet, Dillon started off the series with a 5th place finish in DRIVE4COPD 300 at Daytona International Speedway. Another top-5 finish came for Dillon in the next race at Phoenix. Sam's Town 300 concluded with a 7th place finish for Dillon.
After three races, Dillon was placed 2nd on drivers’ standings, only 15 points behind Elliott Sadler.
Dillon finished 12th in Ford EcoBoost 300. In both Royal Purple 300 and O'Reilly Auto Parts 300, Dillon finished 5th and with six races of the series gone, Dillon had dropped down to 3rd place on drivers’ standings due to the 12th place finish in Ford EcoBoost
300 at Bristol.
Virginia 529 College Savings 250 at Richmond and Aaron's 312 at Talladega resulted in 9th and 17th place finishes respectively for Dillon who was still maintaining his 3rd place on drivers’ standings. Consecutive top-5 finishes followed for Dillon in the
next two races and after Pioneer Hi-Bred 250 at Iowa Speedway, Dillon was still placed 3rd on drivers’ standings, only 9 points behind the 2nd place holder Elliott Sadler.
It took Dillon 4 more races to clinch his first Nationwide victory, winning Feed the Children 300 at Kentucky Speedway on June 29, 2012. With 15 races gone, Dillon had moved up to 2nd place on drivers’ standings and was 20 points ahead of Ricky Stenhouse
Jr. who later went on the win the Nationwide title.
3 more top-5 and 1 top-10 finish in the next four races left Dillon only 1 championship point behind the leader Sadler. In U.S. Cellular 250, Dillon finished 15th and the difference between Dillon and Sadler increased to 18 points.
Dillon lost 2 places on drivers’ standings after finishing 23rd in the Zippo 200 at the Glen. In the next 3 races, Dillon maintained 4th place on drivers’ standings and after NRA American Warrior 300 in which Dillon finished 6th, he was 5 points behind Sam
Hornish Jr.
A 6th place finish in Virginia 529 College Savings 250 put Dillon back on 3rd position on drivers’ standings. Second Nationwide victory came for Dillon again at Kentucky, this time racing in Kentucky 300.
With only six races to go in the series, Dillon had a golden chance of winning the title. In OneMain Financial 200 at Dover, Dillon finished 10th followed by a 6th place finish in Dollar General 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Another top-5 finish awaited
Dillon in Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas where he finished 2nd.
With only 3 races to go, Dillon was 21 points behind both Sadler and Stenhouse Jr. who were sharing the 1st place on drivers’ standings with 1170 points each.
In O'Reilly Auto Parts Challenge, Dillon could not give a milestone performance and finished the race 6th. Similar was the result for Dillon in Great Clips 200 second to the last race of the series. With the last race left, Dillon was 5 points behind Sadler
and 25 points behind Stenhouse Jr. Statistically, there was no chance for Dillon to improve his place on drivers’ standings anymore.
At Homestead, Dillon finished 5th thus ending his 2012 Nationwide Series run with a 3rd position on drivers’ standings.
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