Photo Credit: Justin McFarland
NASCAR WIRE SERVICE
Last October at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Austin Dillon was reminded that not all perils a driver faces come on the track.
It was a Friday night in October 2015 and he was on pit road, head bowed in prayer before climbing into his car for the NASCAR XFINITY Series race. Suddenly, a sizzling sound and what he called “a glimmer of light” interrupted the prayer. A hot little meteorite of sorts, a bit of pre-race fireworks that didn’t burn out in the sky, dove down on him, even leaving a scorch mark on his firesuit.
“It was weird. It was pretty crazy,” he said.
In re-telling the story to reporters following the race, “I think it was a sign from God,” Dillon said. “He was saying, ‘You’re going to have a good night or something. Get your butt in gear.’”
Indeed, Dillon got it in gear to win the race, enabling him to sweep the XFINITY events at Charlotte last season. He followed it up the next day by finishing seventh in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Bank of America 500.
The 26-year-old Dillon returns to Charlotte as No. 10 in the Sprint Cup standings, meaning if the Chase were beginning tomorrow, he and the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet team would be in it. Long way to go, but it seems shorter to get there this time.
He has six top-10 finishes in 12 starts, with the momentum of a third at Talladega and sixth at Kansas only slightly derailed by a 33rd-place finish at Dover caused by a broken brake part.
“Charlotte is one of my favorite tracks,” Dillon said. “It’s a home track. I swept the XFINITY races last year and I seem to have hit on something there a couple of years ago to figure out what I needed in the car. I can’t wait to get there.”
He’ll be racing in Friday’s Sprint Showdown (7 p.m. ET on FS1), hoping to advance to Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race (9 p.m. ET on FS1) either through winning one of the three Showdown segments or the Sprint Fan Vote.
Dillon was sitting in a low-slung lawn chair outside his motorcoach in the drivers’ lot early one morning on a recent race weekend. Any sleepiness in his eyes after a late-night flight for a sponsor appearance was hidden by a pair of aviator shades.
Like most drivers, there is much time spent away from the track doing appearances. Lately, they’ve taken advantage of his all-around athletic ability. He helped promote Charlotte’s race weekend by participating in a field-goal kicking contest at the speedway against Carolina Panthers’ kicker Graham Gano. Before the Dover race, he played shortstop in an exhibition softball game, turning back the clock 14 years, to his days on the Southwest Forsyth baseball team that reached the Little League World Series.
Perhaps that team experience helped shape his appreciation for what has developed at RCR.
“We’re better as a company, as a crew, as a team,” Dillon said of his points standing. “I feel like this is the closest [Sprint] Cup team I’ve had in three years as far as a group of guys. We all get along well. And we’ve improved this year.”
But there is one significant measure of success that Dillon hasn’t achieved in Sprint Cup. After 97 career starts, he’s still seeking his first victory.
“You’ve got to perform in this business,” he said. “You can have one day, you’re at the top of the mountain. The next day, you’re at the bottom of the valley. You’ve always got to keep working, keep crafting, making sure your skill is honed. It’s a tough sport. It can really keep you humble.
“It’s a team effort and we’re not leaving any stone unturned. We’re trying to eliminate excuses each week. When we do that, we can narrow what it takes to win a race.”
And when that happens, what it will it mean?
“It’ll mean the world to me,” Dillon said. “All the effort I’ve put in, to take a trophy from the top series in NASCAR, it’s everything you fight for.”
