Pit strategy pays off for Dillon in Chicago truck race

Joliet, IL – Austin Dillon benefited from a late-race pit stop to win Friday night's Fast Five 225 Camping World Truck Series race at Chicagoland Speedway.

Dillon's No.3 Richard Childress Racing team made a quick and flawless two-tire change during a round of green-flag pit stops within the final 20 laps. The 21-year-old Dillon took the lead for good with 14 laps remaining. He finished five seconds ahead of Sprint Cup Series regular Kevin Harvick, who had dominated most of the race with 99 laps led.

"This is the best [win]," Dillon said after he captured his second victory of the season and the fourth of his truck career. "These guys [pit crew] are awesome. They got me out of pit road first."

With the win, Dillon moved to within three points of leader James Buescher, who finished 11th. Just seven races remain in the season.

"The main thing for us is to just win races; that's the only thing you can do to lead in this points deal," Dillon added.

Dillon also ended Kevin Harvick Inc.'s four-race winning streak in the series. Harvick won at Pocono, Michigan and Bristol during the month of August, while Ron Hornaday Jr. took the checkered flag two weeks ago at Atlanta.

"I knew they [Dillon's team] were going to do the opposite of what we did, but we had 20-something laps on those tires. and I had a vibration start to pop up," Harvick said. "We just had to put four tires on. We wanted to win the race, but we didn't want to blow a tire."

Harvick's teammate, Nelson Piquet Jr., finished third, followed by Parker Kligerman and Kyle Busch, who had won the previous two races at this 1.5-mile track.

Busch had been battling Harvick for the second position in the closing laps before one of Busch's tires began to go flat.

Johnny Sauter's sixth-place run allowed him to move within six points of Buescher.

Matt Crafton finished seventh, while Miguel Paludo, Cole Whitt and Hornaday completed the top-10.