Austin Dillon treated for heat exhaustion at Martinsville

Austin Dillon was treated and released from the care center at Martinsville Speedway after having to be helped from his car with less than 100 laps to go.

The Richard Childress Racing driver needed care after suffering in the cockpit from overheating. Dillon's No. 3 Chevrolet blew a right-rear tire and brought the caution out on Lap 5, which also knocked a crush panel out of the car.

"Right at the start of the race, we had a puncture in the right-rear tire and had to pit, which put us a couple of laps down,' said Dillon. "It may have been cut from the very beginning of the race because as soon as we took the green flag, something felt off. Our Chevy remained really fast, and at times we were a half-second faster than the rest of the field. We just couldn't catch a break to get our laps back with long green-flag runs tonight.

"We were also battling brutal temperatures in the cockpit because the crush panel got knocked out when the right-rear went down at the beginning of the race. Eventually, we had to retire early from the race. We had a really good car, so it's a shame that had to happen."

Dillon finished 37th.

In a video posted on his Twitter page, Dillon summed up his night as "not fun." He explained trying to tough it out as long as he could and using ice packs.

"I got the bright idea to put an ice pack between my legs, and it melted and burnt my ass," said Dillon. "Got a little blister down there on my left butt cheek, right next to my tattoo. That sucks."

Dillon said he had an unbelievable race car and probably the fastest one he's had at Martinsville. He brought the car down pit road when he began feeling dizzy.

https://twitter.com/austindillon3/status/1270932144026779649