CUP: Austin Dillon suffers one of many flat tires in Phoenix, then is caught by a returning Michael McDowell
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
ALL PHOTOS: Luis Torres, @TheLTFiles
Austin Dillon picked up the 6th last-place finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday’s Freeway Insurance 500 at the Phoenix Raceway when his #3 Dow / Arm & Hammer Chevrolet crashed after 155 of 312 laps.
The finish, which came in Dillon’s 477th Cup start, was his first of the season and first in a Cup Series race since October 20, 2024 at Las Vegas, 72 races ago. In the Cup Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 21st for the #3, the 716th from a crash, and the 897th for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 33rd for the #3, the 1,476th from a crash, and the 2,067th for Chevrolet.
In the nearly two years since he was last featured on this site, Austin Dillon has successfully defended his controversial win at Richmond, where in 2025, he led 107 laps on his way to a convincing victory. As with 2024, however, this was his only top-five finish of the entire year, though making the Playoffs meant he jumped to a 15th-place finish in the standings. This season, with the Playoffs gone, and his curious legacy the focus of a popular EmpLemon video on YouTube, he nears the end of 2026 still looking for his first Top Five of the season. This, of course, has been a particularly challenging year for the entire Richard Childress Racing team following the untimely passing of teammate Kyle Busch in May. Just last week, Dillon spoke at Busch’s Celebration of Life, held after the Truck Series race at Charlotte.
For Phoenix, Dillon debuted a new paint scheme where Arm & Hammer products sponsored a NASCAR Cup Series team for the first time, a joint effort with team backer Dow Chemical. The Arm & Hammer brand’s only previous NASCAR sponsorship was in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series from 2013 to early 2014, where a similar effort with Hefty Ultimate trash bags backed Jeff Green and Eric McClure at TriStar Motorsports. Among the 37 entrants, Dillon ranked 27th in practice with a best lap of 27.356 seconds (131.598mph). He lined up ninth for qualifying, where he secured 24th on the grid with a speed of 26.782 seconds (134.419mph).
Securing the 37th and final starting spot was Cody Ware in the #51 Rocket Doctor Chevrolet, though he would take the green flag ahead of 7th-place qualifier Ty Gibbs, whose #54 Monster Energy Toyota incurred a tail-end penalty for unapproved adjustments. When the green flag dropped, Gibbs was last across the stripe, following Ware toward the dogleg. Ware got to the inside of 36th-place starter Corey Heim in the #67 Mobil 1 / O’Reilly Auto Parts Toyota, but Gibbs then got under Ware in Turns 3 and 4, dropping Ware to last by the stripe.
A drop of rain fell on Ware’s windshield at the start of Lap 2, when Gibbs dropped to the far inside line in the dogleg. This opened a gap through which fell Austin Hill in the #33 FICO Chevrolet, creating a three-wide logjam between Gibbs and Heim. On Lap 3, Ware pulled to the high lane, moving him to 35th ahead of first Hill, then Gibbs. But Gibbs responded with a move to the high lane, putting him 36th. Now falling toward these trailing cars were Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. in the #47 Beyond Resilience Chevrolet and Ty Dillon in the #10 Sea Best Chevrolet. On Lap 5, last-place Hill got to the inside of Ware, but Ware fought back in the high lane. Hill couldn’t clear Ware until Lap 9, when he finally got ahead off the corner to start Lap 10. Hill again had trouble with 35th-place Ty Dillon, who he couldn’t clear until Lap 18.
On Lap 32, Ware was 26.177 seconds back of the lead, and four-tenths back of 36th-place Ty Dillon. The next time by on Lap 33, he got under Dillon off Turn 3 and worked his way past, but Dillon fought back in the high lane to retake 36th on Lap 34. Moments later on Lap 36, race leader Ryan Blaney shot the gap between the two drivers, passing Ware on the high lane, then turning left to clear Dillon. Now trapped in faster lead-lap traffic, Dillon dropped Stenhouse to 36th, where on Lap 40 he was caught by Ware. At the line, Ware was now 36th, two car lengths ahead of Stenhouse. “Feels like something’s broke,” said Stenhouse on Lap 44. “It moves around so much, chattering the rear.” He added that his rear tires were “just gone.”
Damage sustained to Michael McDowell’s #71 after his tangle with Herbst.
Meanwhile, on Lap 45, the battle for 19th intensified between Riley Herbst and Michael McDowell. Coming off Turn 2, Herbst’s #35 FRE Nicotine Pouches Toyota got to the inside of McDowell’s #71 Tecovas Chevrolet. Herbst appeared to slide up toward McDowell’s door, and McDowell pulled left to keep his car out of the wall, causing the two to bang doors. McDowell pulled ahead of Herbst down the straightaway, only for Herbst to bump McDowell at the entry to Turn 3, sending McDowell spinning up the track. Unfortunately, Herbst didn’t cut to the left in time, and ended up striking McDowell’s car with the nose of his Toyota.
Under this first caution of the day, Herbst took last on Lap 46, his hood bowed up several inches, forcing a crew member to climb onto the hood and force it down with his knees. McDowell, pitted six stalls behind him in Stall No. 21, pulled in with a flat right-front tire and heavy rear-end damage. After Herbst returned to the track two laps down, McDowell’s crew was using cutting tools to clear the rear tires, dropping him to last on Lap 48 as he lost a third lap. After nearly five minutes of repairs (lap time of 310.017 seconds), the crew sent McDowell back on track, but he immediately reported “Yeah, it’s all broke – suspension’s broke, it’s not even close here.” He also doubted he could meet minimum speed, which was set at 31.01 seconds. Even running at caution lap speed, he nearly struck the wall in Turns 1 and 2, then pulled back down pit road on Lap 51. He then drove behind the wall just past Tyler Reddick’s Stall No. 29 and stopped in Garage Stall No. 18.
Herbst returns to the track with large pieces of bear-bond holding down his buckled hood.
Once again, McDowell’s crew set to work, and by Lap 63 were audibly cutting off more of the rear bodywork. On Lap 122, McDowell’s spotter told the crew that a pit cycle had started, and to let them know if they were returning to the track anytime soon. The crew responded they had “a ways to go.” Soon after on Lap 124, they ran the numbers, wondering how much time they had before they couldn’t catch anyone who fell out. At the time, they were 78 laps down, and all 36 remaining cars were still on track. On Lap 135, they set to work on a vent that had been clipped shut, and the rest of the field remained within three laps of the leader. On Lap 151, they estimated they only had about 15-16 more laps to get back on track. By then, the crew had finished re-attaching body panels and were now bear-bonding everything back in place. On Lap 157, when McDowell was 109 laps down, the crew said “We’re buttoning it up and coming back out here.” Seconds later, the caution fell.
On Lap 158, Austin Dillon was running around the 15th spot when his right-rear tire blew entering Turn 3. His car slid up the banking and hit the wall with the right-front, then made a second hard turn to the right before it stopped against the outside wall. Dillon said he was thinking about coming to pit road as “the front end just kept raising on me on the front straightaway,” but thought “it was just a piece of rubber,” similar to an earlier incident involving William Byron entering Turns 1 and 2.
Dillon’s #3 car was still against the wall as McDowell returned to the track on Lap 159. Now 110 laps down, McDowell paused at the garage exit for a moment to let a safety truck go by, then returned to the track. Dillon plummeted to 36th on Lap 160 as he received a tow to the garage. “Probably destroying our diffuser right now,” he said. The driver was frustrated when the tow truck nudged his car backward into Garage Stall No. 23, saying it was casing more damage. On Lap 164, Dillon asked his team, “Are we done?” The answer, “Not sure yet – there’s a lot of broken parts, it’ll take a while to fix this.” Then they noticed, “The right-front’s pretty killed,” and a moment later said, “We’re done.” On Lap 174, NASCAR confirmed Dillon as the first driver out of the race. His on-board camera shut off on Lap 178.
Cody Ware backs into the wall in Turns 1 and 2 following a flat tire.
Back on track, McDowell had just enough time to catch and pass Dillon. If he didn’t lose another lap, he’d make the pass with about 45 laps to go in regulation. With 68 to go, he was within 20 laps of catching Dillon, and was warned by his team not to overuse his right-rear tire. Finally, on Lap 268, McDowell climbed to 36th spot, putting Dillon in last place. McDowell came up just short of catching 35th-place Ware, whose #51 also blew a tire entering Turn 1 and backed hard into the outside wall. At the checkered flag, McDowell was 19 laps short of reaching Ware’s lap. Taking the 34th spot was point leader Kyle Larson, who after struggling with an ill-handling #5 Valvoline Chevrolet slapped the wall in Turns 1 and 2, ending his race. Larson remains the point leader by five markers, thanks in part to struggles faced by challenger Denny Hamlin, whose #11 Progressive Toyota had also suffered a flat right-rear and was caught speeding on pit road. While Hamlin finished 28th (his first bottom-ten finish of the year), the Bottom Five was completed by John Hunter Nemechek, whose #42 Dollar Tree Toyota had a pair of flat right-front tires, costing him five laps.
Heim and FRM close out good races in Phoenix
After starting in 36th, Corey Heim recovered nicely to take home a 5th-place finish at the site of his thrilling Truck Series Championship clinching bid nearly a year earlier. Just outside the Top Ten, the three Front Row Motorsports cars finished nose-to-tail led by 13th-place Noah Gragson in the #4 Long John Silver’s Ford, followed by 14th-place Todd Gilliland in the #34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford (who finished 9th in Stage 2) and 15th-place Zane Smith in the #38 Aaron’s Rent to Own Ford.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the first last-place finish of the 2026 Cup season for Richard Childress Racing.
*The #3 had never before finished last in a Cup race at Phoenix.
*The 155 laps completed by Dillon are the seventh-most of any Cup last-place finisher at Phoenix. The record remains 258, set by Martin Truex, Jr. on November 13, 2016.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
37) #3-Austin Dillon / 155 laps / crash
36) #71-Michael McDowell / 201 laps / running
35) #51-Cody Ware / 220 laps / crash
34) #5-Kyle Larson / 281 lap / crash
33) #42-John Hunter Nemechek / 307 laps / running
2026 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Trackhouse Racing (6)
2nd) Front Row Motorsports, Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing (4)
3rd) 23XI Racing, Garage 66, Kaulig Racing, Live Fast Motorsports, RFK Racing (2)
4th) Richard Childress Racing, Rick Ware Racing, Spire Motorsports, Wood Brothers Racing (1)
2026 LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (17)
2nd) Ford (9)
3rd) Toyota (5)
2026 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
