Austin Dillon (No. 3) going door-to-door with Ross Chastain (No. 1) for on-track position in the 2025 Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. (Photo Credit: Wayne Riegle | The Podium Finish)
BRISTOL, Tenn. — Austin Dillon plays the strategy game perfectly, claiming his first top 10 of the 2025 season, finishing 10th in Sunday afternoon’s NASCAR Cup Series Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Dillon, who ultimately started the 500-lap race in the 17th starting spot, was able to move up the boards strategically throughout the afternoon to his first top 10 finish dating back Martinsville Speedway Fall race of 2024, 10 races ago.
Dillon hovered his No. 3 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing just inside the top 20 with teammate Kyle Busch for the majority of the opening 125-lap stage, crossing the finish line in 20th after Stage 1.
Austin Dillon kept his head in the game all afternoon, driving to a 10th-place run at Bristol. (Photo Credit: Holden Barnes | The Podium Finish)
Dillon nabbed two spots on pit road to advance up to 18th during the caution break for the restart to begin Stage 2 alongside his brother, Ty Dillon.
The Cup Series veteran maintained a steady 17th-place run up until the second caution of the day came out on Lap 178 for a spinning Shane van Gisbergen entering the middle of Turn 2.
The Welcome, North Carolina homegrown driver dropped back one spot in the field later on in the second stage, officially crossing the line in 18th as Dillon geared up for the final 250-lap shootout to decide the winner of the 2025 Food City 500.
As green flag pitstops began midway through the second half of the final stage, Dillon found himself running in 13th with 130 laps to go in the event.
Dillon entered the top 10 for the first time that afternoon with 113 laps remaining in the race, as the No. 3 car chose to continue stretching their long run.
Dillon finally brought his Chevrolet down pit road from the fourth spot on Lap 394 for the final stop of the race, taking on four fresh tires and fuel for the final 100 laps.
The 2018 DAYTONA 500 winner recycled back onto the speedway after his pitstop in 19th with around 100 laps to go, as most of the field had yet to pit, including at the time race leaders of Ryan Blaney and Tyler Reddick.
Austin Dillon navigating through the 0.533-mile oval in the 2025 Food City 500. (Photo Credit: Holden Barnes | The Podium Finish)
Dillon had finally cracked the top 10 for the rest of the day with 44 laps left in the event, holding it down all the way until the end, crossing the line in 10th despite losing a lap to race winner, Kyle Larson.
“We really came on strong there at the end.” Said an emphatic Dillon after scoring a crucial top 10 after 500 laps around “The Last Great Colosseum.”
“Our No. 3 Chevrolet was just too tight to start the race, and then when it kind of moved up, we had something to race, for sure. I wish we could have made our way forward a little sooner because I think our Chevy had runs in it that were capable of a top-five finish. But overall, that was big for us right there.”
Dillon was the highest finishing RCR car in the field on Sunday as Busch brought home his No. 8 home in 14th, followed by Jesse Love, who made his NASCAR Cup Series debut, driving home to a 31st place effort in the No. 33.
With the strong finish on Sunday, Dillon managed to move up to 26th in the NASCAR Cup Series standings and will have time to recuperate from the first nine contests of 2025 as the next Cup Series race goes down South for the Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway in two weeks.
