Ty Dillon, McDowell earn season-best runs, Busch solidifies place among greats at Bristol Dirt
BRISTOL, TENN. — Michael McDowell, Ty Dillon and Kyle Busch each had a big Sunday night in the Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
McDowell and Dillon rounded out the top-10 finishers as they each rounded out their best run of 2022, in 9th and 10th respectively.
McDowell finished ninth after earning three points for an eighth-place finish in stage two – and Dillon finished 10th after earning nine points for a second-place finish in stage one.
Entering Bristol dirt, Michael McDowell was 26th in points with 121 points after eight races – compared to being 16th with 189 points last year.
At Bristol, McDowell picked up his performance, however.
He had the 17th-best driver rating – 73.7/150 – but the 4th-most passes – 55 quality passes – within the top 15.
“For not being a driver with a dirt racing background, a top-10 at the end of this race is amazing,” McDowell said. “We had an amazing car that handled great all weekend, and we made the most of it. We finally had a race come our way, so I’m excited to get this after the last three races we have had.”
McDowell’s ninth-place finish is his second top 10 of 2022 and his first since finishing seventh with a 93.6 rating in the Daytona 500.
Ty Dillon’s 10th-place finish was arguably the best overall, non-superspeedway race of his NASCAR Cup Series career Sunday, as he made the most quality passes – 58 – of any driver and earned a career-best 118.0 driver rating. Dillon’s rating was also the fifth-best of all drivers Sunday.
“Our Camaro was fast from the moment we unloaded on Friday. We got stuck on the bottom on every restart after the first stage and you just couldn’t get through the field on the bottom but I had a blast though,” Dillon recalled. “Dirt racing is fun for me. My roots are dirt racing, so while I haven’t ran a dirt race in about five years, I felt back at home and had a lot of fun.”
Dillon also won his heat race Saturday, in addition to finishing second in stage one and earning his first top-10 finish of the season. In April 2019, he beat Clint Bowyer to win a stage at regular Bristol.
Kyle Busch earned his first win at Bristol since that April 2019 race, as he edged out Tyler Reddick for his 60th career NASCAR Cup Series win.
Busch became the ninth driver in NASCAR Cup Series history to earn 60 wins – and the seventh to reach 60 wins in the modern era, which began in 1972.
Kyle Busch is ninth on the all-time wins list – 16 wins behind Dale Earnhardt and two ahead of Kevin Harvick.
TOP 10 NASCAR CUP SERIES ALL-TIME WINS LIST
- Richard Petty — 200
- David Pearson — 105
- Jeff Gordon — 93
- Bobby Allison — 84
- Darrell Waltrip — 84 (tie)
- Jimmie Johnson — 83
- Cale Yarborough — 83 (tie)
- Dale Earnhardt — 76
- Kyle Busch — 60
- Kevin Harvick — 58
Kyle Busch tied Richard Petty in two ways Sunday – Busch tied Petty for the most consecutive NASCAR Cup Series seasons with a win – at 18 seasons – and for sixth on the modern-era wins list.
TOP 10 NASCAR CUP SERIES MODERN-ERA WINS LIST (1972-PRESENT)
- Jeff Gordon — 93
- Darrell Waltrip — 84
- Jimmie Johnson — 83
- Dale Earnhardt — 76
- Cale Yarborough — 69
- Kyle Busch — 60
- Richard Petty — 60 (tie)
- Kevin Harvick — 58
- Bobby Allison — 55
- Rusty Wallace — 55
Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick lead all active NASCAR Cup Series drivers in wins.
TOP 10 NASCAR CUP SERIES ACTIVE WINS LIST
- Kyle Busch — 60
- Kevin Harvick — 58 (Last Win: Bristol, Sept. 2020)
- Denny Hamlin — 47 (Last Win: Richmond, April 2022)
- Brad Keselowski — 35 (Last Win: Talladega, April 2021)
- Kurt Busch — 33 (Last Win: Atlanta, July 2021)
- Martin Truex Jr. — 31 (Last Win: Richmond, Sept. 2021)
- Joey Logano — 27 (Last Win: Bristol Dirt, March 2021)
- Greg Biffle — 19 (Last Win: Michigan, June 2013)
- Kyle Larson — 17 (Last Win: Auto Club, Feb. 2022)
- Chase Elliott — 13 (Last Win: Road America, July 2021)
Michael McDowell is 20th in wins among active drivers, in a tie with Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe, Chris Buescher, Ross Chastain, Austin Cindric, Bubba Wallace, Cole Custer and Justin Haley – who all have one career Cup win.
Ty Dillon’s best-career finish is third in Oct. 2020 at Talladega Superspeedway, where the NASCAR Cup Series heads next for the April 24 GEICO 500 (2 p.m. ET; TV: FOX; Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Ch. 90).
