Austin Dillon (born April 27, 1990) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He is the son of former driver and Richard Childress Racing general manager Mike Dillon, brother of Ty Dillon and grandson of Richard Childress. He currently competes full-time in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 3 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for RCR, and part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 3 Chevrolet Camaro for RCR.
After winning NASCAR Rookie of the Year in the Truck Series in 2010, Dillon won the Truck Series championship in 2011, and later the Nationwide Series championship in 2013, also one year after his ROTY title in 2012. He holds the record for most consecutive poles in the Nationwide Series with four.
Video Austin Dillon
Racing career
2005-2007: Beginnings
Dillon began his racing career in the Bandolero Mini Cars series and the Legend Cars Series. A year later, he started dirt track racing at dirt late model racer Dale McDowell's school.
2008: Camping World East Series
Dillon was the 2008 Sunoco Rookie of the Year in the NASCAR Camping World East Series after one win at Greenville-Pickens Speedway, one pole and ten top-10s in 13 races.
2009-2011: Camping World Truck Series
He made his first Camping World Truck Series start at Iowa Speedway, driving the No. 3 truck. This was the first time that the No. 3 had appeared in any of the three major series since Dale Earnhardt Jr. used it in the Busch Series back in 2002.
Dillon was supposed to start the Mountain Dew 250 at Talladega Superspeedway during the 2009 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season, but the truck failed inspection, thus his time was removed and he was not allowed to race. Dillon would drive the No. 3 truck full-time in 2010 for Rookie of the Year, with sponsorship from Bass Pro Shops.
Despite crashing out early at Daytona, Dillon got his first career pole at Texas Motor Speedway in June and finished third, leading 20 laps. On July 11, Dillon scored his first career NASCAR victory in the Lucas Oil 200 at Iowa Speedway, winning a Truck Series race in a truck wearing the No. 3 for the first time since Bryan Reffner won for Team Menard in 2000 at Texas Motor Speedway. He ended the season with two wins and seven poles, earning him Rookie of the Year honors.
In 2011, Dillon scored his first win of the year at Nashville Superspeedway. Dillon scored his second win of 2011 at Chicagoland Speedway, beating Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch. After rain shortened the season finale at the Homestead-Miami Speedway, Dillon was crowned the 2011 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Champion. He also won the 2011 CWTS Most Popular Driver Award. In 2012 he moved up to the Nationwide Series full-time, driving the No. 3 Chevrolet for RCR.
2011-present: Monster Energy Cup Series and Xfinity Series
Dillon made his first career start in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series on October 9, 2011, in the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway. He finished 26th in his No. 98 Camping World Curb/Agajanian Racing Chevrolet Impala.
On November 4, 2011, Richard Childress Racing announced that Dillon would be moving up to the Nationwide Series in 2012, driving the No. 3 that Dale Earnhardt made famous, with sponsorship from AdvoCare, American Ethanol, and Bass Pro Shops.
2012
Dillon competed in the Sprint Cup Series on a limited basis in 2012, starting at Michigan International Speedway in June, driving the No. 33 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing, starting 21st and finishing 24th.
On June 29, 2012, Dillon recorded his first Nationwide Series win at Kentucky Speedway; he dominated the race by leading all but 8 laps and won by over 9.8 seconds over second place. However, NASCAR officials announced the car had failed post-race inspection because the rear ride heights were too low.
Dillon also participated in one race in the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series at Circuit Gilles-Villeuneuve in Montreal in August 2012. Dillon finished 7th while driving the No. 4 car for Fitzpatrick Motorsports.
2013
Dillon announced in August 2012 that he would continue to drive full-time in the Nationwide Series for 2013, with Advocare as the primary sponsor for the full season, along with running seven Sprint Cup Series races that year, including the 2013 Daytona 500, where he qualified 8th, but crashed late in the race, relegating him to a 31st-place finish. In January 2013 it was announced that some of Dillon's Sprint Cup races that season would be in Phoenix Racing's No. 51 Chevrolet.
Dillon returned to the Truck Series for the inaugural Mudsummer Classic at Eldora Speedway, leading a race-high 63 laps, and won after a green-white-checker finish. The truck, the trophy and the famed piece of dirt track are on display at NASCAR Hall of Fame. Later in the year Dillon substituted for the ailing Brennan Newberry in the Truck Series race at Chicagoland Speedway.
In early August 2013, it was announced that Dillon would substitute for Tony Stewart in the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet at Michigan due to Stewart's leg injury; he would also drive the car at Talladega Superspeedway in October. In Dillon's run at Talladega, he performed well during the event, and was running in the top five for most of the day; at the white flag, Dillon was third behind Jamie McMurray and Dale Earnhardt Jr. and was about to give Earnhardt Jr. a push for an attempt to make a winning pass when he was turned by Ricky Stenhouse Jr., slammed the backstretch wall, then was sent airborne when struck head-on by Casey Mears.
On November 16, 2013, Dillon won the NASCAR Nationwide Series Championship with a 12th-place finish in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Dillon's series championship was unusual because he did not win any races during the season; this marked the first time in any of NASCAR's three national series that a season champion went winless.
2014
On December 11, 2013, it was announced by RCR that Dillon will drive the No. 3 Chevrolet in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series with Cheerios and The Dow Chemical Company as the primary sponsors. It would be the No. 3 car's first Sprint Cup appearance in 13 years.
During 2014 Daytona 500 qualifying, Dillon clinched the pole position with a speed of 196.019 miles per hour (315.462 km/h).
After a long streak of bad finishes, Dillon rebounded in the 2014 Pocono 400. Dillon ended the 2014 Cup season as one of only two drivers to have been running at the finish of every race during the season, the other being Jeff Gordon. He finished second in the rookie of the year standings to Kyle Larson.
2015
In the Xfinity race at Daytona, he won after the dominant car of Brian Scott crashed out of the race late in the going. In the Coke Zero 400 on July 5, coming to the checkered flag, Dillon was hit in the left front tire by the spinning car of Denny Hamlin, causing him to flip into the catchfence over two rows of cars. Dillon climbed out of the car unharmed, save for a bruised tailbone and a bruise on his forearm, but five fans were injured by flying debris. Dillon was credited with a seventh-place finish.
In the second race at Talladega, Dillon drove a special WeatherTech paint scheme and finished 14th place, by avoiding the last-lap wreck that took out several race cars from finishing the race. At Martinsville, Dillon drove a special Dow Plastic Additives paint scheme and finished 18th place. At Texas, Dillon finished strong with an 11th place outing. At the second Phoenix race, Dillon finished 20th, one lap down. At Homestead, Dillon started 10th and finished 14th. Dillon finished 21st in the 2015 Sprint Cup standings.
2016
Dillon competed part-time in the Xfinity Series in 2016, splitting the No. 2 of RCR with six other drivers. On the final lap of the Xfinity race in Fontana, Dillon battled with Kyle Busch, whose car had cut a left front tire, the two making contact as they approached the finish. Dillon's car hit the turn four wall but was able to hang on for the win.
In the Cup Series, Dillon won two Poles, the first coming at Auto Club and the second coming at the second Texas race. At the first Talladega Cup race, Dillon scored a career-best 3rd place finish after getting caught up in two big crashes. He then also qualified for his first Chase for the Sprint Cup; though he advanced out of the Round of 16, he was eliminated in the following round.
2017
Dillon opened the season with a fifth-place finish in his Can-Am Duel, where he pushed Denny Hamlin past the dominant car of Dale Earnhardt Jr. to win the race.
During an Xfinity Series race at Phoenix International Raceway, Dillon was parked by NASCAR for wrecking rookie Cole Custer under caution after Custer slid in to Dillon earlier in the race. After being parked, Dillon was not the target of any more penalties.
When NASCAR returned to Martinsville for the first time in 2017, Dillon scored a season-best 5th place outing. This is his first top-5 and top-10 finish of 2017. At Texas, Dillon was unable to start the Cup race on the lead lap due to a broken track bar that put him 11 laps down. He finished 33rd.
After the Kansas race, his crew-chief Slugger Labbe mutually separated from RCR. Justin Alexander became the new crew-chief and started his role at the Open.
After struggling early on in the Coca-Cola 600, Dillon would finally earn his first career Cup Series win after passing Jimmie Johnson, who ran out of fuel on lap 399 and held off Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr.. It was the first win for a No. 3 car in Cup since October 15, 2000 when Dale Earnhardt won at Talladega.
After the Charlotte race, Dillon would not score another top-five finish in the Cup series until a fourth-place run at the Southern 500 at Darlington.
In June, Dillon became a color commentator for Fox NASCAR's broadcast of the Xfinity Series race at Michigan.
Maps Austin Dillon
Personal life
Dillon got engaged to former NFL cheerleader, Whitney Ward, on August 9, 2016. Austin and Whitney got married December 9, 2017 at Childress Vineyards. Dillon attended High Point University on a part-time basis. Dillon also played in the 2002 Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
Motorsports career results
NASCAR
(key) (Bold - Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics - Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * - Most laps led.)
Monster Energy Cup Series
Daytona 500
Xfinity Series
Camping World Truck Series
* Season still in progress
1 Ineligible for series points
ARCA Racing Series
(key) (Bold - Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics - Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * - Most laps led.)
See also
- List of Daytona 500 pole position winners
- List of NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champions
- List of NASCAR Nationwide Series champions
- List of people from North Carolina
References
External links
- Official website
- Austin Dillon driver statistics at Racing-Reference
Source of article : Wikipedia
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