TC Daily Pit Stop: Austin Dillon Strikes Paydirt in Richmond; William Byron Locks Up Regular Season Championship With Elliott's Crash

TC Daily Pit Stop: Monday, August 18th, 2025

Aug 18, 2025

Austin Dillon wins the 2025 Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway over Alex Bowman to secure his place in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs — Photo Credit: Buddy Ghi | TobyChristie.com

Austin Dillon collected his second consecutive NASCAR Cup Series race win at Richmond Raceway, and this time around, it’ll count for NASCAR Cup Series Playoff eligibility, as he had no controversy tied to the win on Saturday night.

“Man, that feels good. I gotta thank the good Lord above. You know, I really wanted that one. Last year hurt really bad, just going through the whole process of it. But this one feels so sweet,” Dillon stated in his post-race interview on USA Network. “And man, I love Richmond. Our Winchester/Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet was really good.”

Dillon crossed the finish line ahead of Alex Bowman by a margin of victory of 2.471 seconds to score his sixth career NASCAR Cup Series win. Bowman was followed by the trio of Team Penske teammates Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, and Austin Cindric inside the top-five of the finishing results.

CLICK HERE FOR THE COMPLETE RACE RESULTS

NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Grid (One Race Until Playoffs)

A 12th-place finish for William Byron, paired with a last-place finish for Chase Elliott, who was involved in a big crash on Lap 198, allowed Byron to secure the regular-season championship a week early. That banked him 15 Playoff Points, which shot him to the top of the Playoff Grid.

With one race remaining until the Playoffs begin, Austin Dillon created a pressure-packed situation for a lot of drivers in or near Playoff contention. Chris Buescher is now outside of the Playoff cutline by 60 points, and Alex Bowman and Tyler Reddick, who were virtual locks into the Playoffs before Richmond, aren’t as certain to advance if we have another new winner at Daytona.