Austin Dillon and the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing team started 2026 with a seventh-place finish at the Bowman Gray Stadium on Wednesday night. In the race, which was anything but straightforward after rain added to the challenge in the latter half, Dillon was caught in run-ins with quite a few drivers.
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Dillon’s tussle with Ryan Blaney. Blaney’s car was left with battle scars even though he finished third. Dillon, on his part, made it into the top 10 after starting P15.
The RCR driver spoke about the contact they made after the race. “I think he was mad about when we first started in the rain, and I tank-slapped him coming off the corner,” he said, before adding that both the cars came out unscathed.
“But it didn’t do any harm. He had intent, in my opinion, to end our night, and I just was able to lock it up and hook a left. I mean, I had to get off the brakes and knock a fence down,” added Dillon.
#NASCAR – Austin Dillon had numerous issues with his tires during the first half of the race. He said that the wet weather and the sleet actually helped him make moves.
He just had some run-ins with other drivers in the second half, specifically, Ryan Blaney. pic.twitter.com/Lc11SL2h9r— John Newby (@JohnNewby_) February 5, 2026
Dillon also faced numerous issues with his tires and acknowledged that the rain tires saved his team’s night after they struggled on the slicks. The rain, in fact, put Dillon back in the game, and some good defensive moves helped him finish strongly. After ending the 2025 season in 15th place on the points table, Dillon will be happy that he kicked off 2026 on the right foot.
Blaney, meanwhile, took on a bit of battering on his way to a top-3 finish.
Blaney’s damaged car
After finishing the race in third place behind Ryan Preece and William Byron, Blaney climbed out of his car and took a walk around it to assess the damage it had sustained. The reporter on the track told him that there wasn’t a lot left of his car, and he nodded in agreement.
It is rather impressive that Blaney was able to keep the machine running after all the incidents it was involved in. “I think all my damage is just from running into spun-out cars,” he said.
“I T-boned a couple of guys who were already spun out. I think a lot of it happened in the wet. They spin up top, and you’re committed up top, and you literally can’t go anywhere. You can’t avoid it,” added Blaney.
It was Blaney’s second consecutive top-3 finish in the Clash. Considering he did not talk about the incident with Dillon specifically, it is unlikely that the clash at the Clash would lead to a season-long feud of sorts between the two.
