Dillon Wins Nashville Trucks Race From Pole

Austin Dillon led the final 23 laps at Nashville Speedway, cruising to an easy victory in Friday night’s Lucas Deep Clean 200. The win was the third of his career as he became the fourth consecutive driver to win Nashville from the pole.

Dillon, who won two races in 2010, picked up his third career win and his first since September at Las Vegas.

Timothy Peters led the most laps but a sluggish pit stop sabotaged his night with 48 to go. Track position proved to be invaluable as Dillon left the final round of stops with the lead.

Peters was released in fifth.

Johnny Sauter beat Dillon to turn one and led the next 42 laps before Dillon caught and passed him on lap 178. Dillon never looked back.

“I kept digging,” Dillon said of his late-race battle with Sauter. “The truck was awesome. I kept turning under him (Sauter). I knew he was loose in, so I had to get enough in the corner to make him loose in. I just had to go, when it was time to go.”

Sauter knew it was only a matter of time before Dillon got past him.

“I knew if he could get to me, he would get me loose,” Sauter said of Dillon. “I was just loose all night. And he got there and got me a little free and won the race. So, second place was a good night for us and we’ll just try to build on it.”

Peters consistently had the fastest machine but bad track position eventually led to his undoing.

Prior to the lap 152 caution, Peters had a 6.5-second lead over Sauter and had lapped all but 15 trucks. He would restart fifth and got bottled up behind Ron Hornaday and Nelson Piquet Jr.

Peters was trapped in traffic and the leaders quickly escaped. He ultimately finished third.

Sauter finished second and maintained an 18-point championship lead over Dillon.

Piquet, Parker Kligerman, Todd Bodine, Chris Buescher, David Starr, Elliott Sadler and Joey Coulter completed the top 10.

The Camping World Truck Series next stops at the Lucas Oil Raceway on July on July 29^th for the AAA Insurance 200.