Austin Dillon on Pole in Chicagoland

Austin Dillon

Austin Dillon’s No. 3 Dow Univar Solutions Camaro ZL1 secured the top position in qualifying for the Camping World 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) race at Chicagoland Speedway, with a fast lap of 30.636 seconds, 176.263 mph. It was the third consecutive pole of the season for Dillon, his first at the 1.5mile track, and sixth of his MENCS career.

Kevin Harvick will start second, his fifth front row start of the season in the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate, Dillon’s RCR teammate Daniel Hemric was third fastest, seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson was fourth and Kurt Busch will roll out fifth on the grid.

The qualifying order is provisional until pre-race inspection Sunday morning, but it remained a source of promise, especially for Dillon, the 2018 Daytona 500 winner who hasn’t had a top-20 finish in the last four races and has only a pair of top-10 finishes in total this year. The pole position, Dillon conceded, was a bit of a pleasant surprise compared to where he had run in practice earlier Saturday.

“You don’t usually see a guy that was 21st and 25th in both practice sessions jump up to the pole but I actually felt really confident in our car in the second practice,’’ Dillon said. “When we put on our stickers (tires) we had our car too low. We were hitting the track. So our speed wasn’t there because of that. … I felt confident that our car was good and driving good. We just needed to get off [hitting] the track and we did and we went really fast. It was a good lap.’’

His teammate Hemric was equally as enthusiastic. Third place is a career best start for the 28-year-old first-year Cup driver.

“We all enjoy coming to these places where you can try to find little advantages throughout the weekend, practices and qualifying to try and dial in your car to have some versatility to it,’’ Hemric said. “If you can do that and maintain grip, it gives you more opportunities to move.

“I’m a big fan of this place and a big fan of all of the tracks like this. I’m excited about our speed there in our Camaro ZL1 and hopefully it’s a sign of what’s to come in the race.’’

Johnson will be making his best start since winning the pole position at Texas two months ago and Busch will similarly be making his best start since winning the outside pole at Bristol in April.

AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW UNIVAR SOLUTIONS CAMARO ZL1 PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT:

IS THIS ABOUT WHAT YOU EXPECTED FOR TODAY?

"Yeah, you don't usually see a guy that was 21st and 25th in both practice sessions jump up to the pole but I actually felt really confident in our car in the second practice. We just, when we put on our stickers we had our car too low. We were hitting the track. So our speed wasn't there because of that. You can't see that. I felt confident that our car was good and driving good. We just needed to get off the track and we did and we went really fast. It was a good lap. I looked at SMT and I kind of beat everybody off Turn 2 and it carried down the backstretch. That was a good part of the corner for us."

DANIEL HEMRIC IS STARTING THIRD. WITH CHICAGOLAND HAVING GUYS JUMP DOWN TO THE APRON, HOW IMPORTANT WILL IT BE HAVING HIM THERE?

"Yeah, it will be good having a teammate there. Hopefully we can work good together. We actually played some doubles ping-pong this week and I feel like our teammate bond got even closer than what it was because we kicked some tail in double ping-pong. If anybody wants a shot at him, Rick and I in some ping-pong, come get it."

WHO DID YOU PLAY AGAINST?

"We played against Brett Moffitt and Austin Payton which is Denny's (Hamlin) manager. You can ask Moffitt next time you see him. It wasn't much of a match."

THIS YEAR, BEING THE POLE SITTER HASN'T MEANT BEING GREAT IN THE RACE. DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW YOU WILL BE TOMORROW?

"I was sitting in the trailer talking to Danny and we feel pretty confident. We were 11th on average. Long run speed is what we were good at. We didn't think we had that kind of a lap in it. We didn't know what we were going to qualify at. We were 24th and 21st in practice on speed. I think we made really good adjustments. That is kind of relative because Harvick has qualified on pole a couple places and led a lot of laps. He didn't get the win but he has been the fastest car. Kansas I think. There have been some places the pole guy has had a shot to win. I know history wise the pole sitter has never won here, that is what they were saying. I have a fast car either way. I am happy. We will make the right adjustments tomorrow and put ourselves in a good position. We have a great pit stall. I didn't feel like we were out to lunch if you are asking that question. We had good long run speed and pretty good grip."

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