LOUDON, N.H. — Ty Dillon was not at all short on words following a lap 76 crash that took him out of contention for a solid finish in Saturday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series AutoLotto 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Dillon hit the outside wall down the back straightaway after contact with Alex Bowman hooked him up the track from the bottom lane.
Bowman was complaining of a tight condition in his No. 88 Chevrolet that was making the car increasingly difficult to turn, and said on the radio of the incident that he put extra steering input into the car to keep it off the outside wall as he exited turn two on the high lane.
At that point, the rear of the car gripped up, and the car came down the track into Dillon’s right-rear quarter panel — turning Dillon head first into the outside SAFER Barrier.
As Dillon’s crew worked on his car in the garage area, the 24-year-old XFINITY regular said it was “pretty obvious” what happened, in his eyes, after he saw the replay.
“We had a great car today, but it’s probably my fault (that it’s torn up) because I was back there with a guy that doesn’t get to race very much. He certainly showed why that is.”
“I’m very frustrated. He’s beyond the corner, down the straightaway, and just turned left. I feel like he’s pretty lucky he’s still on the race track, and not in the garage with me. I’m pretty upset right now. That’s not how you race. You don’t turn people down the straightaway. I don’t know what to say, because I don’t have anything good to say except for the fact that I’m glad he’s not around right now.”
Told of Bowman’s complaint of a tight race car, Dillon was unswayed in his stance on the incident.
“It sure seemed like his car turned left pretty good down the straightaway, when I was passing him,” he added. “Maybe he needs to figure out what loose and tight means, and maybe I can explain it to him.”
Radio traffic to Ty’s brother, Austin Dillon, just before the race resumed at lap 81 indicated that the No. 2 crew also believed the accident was intentional.
“After watching the replay two or three times, it was definitely intentional. He definitely turned left. He turned left and hooked him … down the straightaway.”
Austin Dillon gave a shot to the rear decklid of Bowman’s No. 88 Chevrolet before passing him for third on lap 127.
Moments later, Ty Dillon returned to the race track after losing 52 laps in the garage area and caught up with Bowman on-track, but was unable to keep pace and quickly fell back as other lead lap cars drove around him on the bottom of the track.
About the Writer
Jacob Seelman is the Managing Editor of Race Chaser Online and creator of the Motorsports Madness radio show, airing at 7 p.m. Eastern every Monday on the Performance Motorsports Network.
Seelman grew up in the sport, watching his grandparents co-own the RaDiUs Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series team in the 1990s.
The 22-year-old is currently studying Broadcast Journalism at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., and is also serving as the full-time tour announcer for the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series.
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