Did You Notice?… Austin Dillon led just eight laps during the first 25 races of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season?
That didn’t stop him from crashing this year’s playoff party, slipping through the wreckage at Daytona International Speedway to go from a lap down to the leader of the race in a matter of minutes. No one benefitted more from the rainstorm that came out of nowhere, wiping out half the field, than the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing team.
Even Dillon admitted it was a stroke of luck to be in the right place, right time to get through it all.
“I don’t know what you call that,” Dillon said. “We went from 15th to first. I know what it’s called. It’s called the good Lord was looking after us.”
Dillon then survived a late challenge from rookie Austin Cindric, pulling the bump-and-run on a superspeedway to earn his fourth career Cup victory. All of them have come under unusual circumstances, with Dillon leading a grand total of of 35 laps in those wins. That’s less than 10 laps out front, on average, every time he’s reached victory lane.
It makes Dillon one of the more polarizing drivers on the Cup circuit. Some think he’s underrated, unfairly criticized for a nine-year Cup career in a car once driven by Hall of Fame talent. Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Kevin Harvick combined for 90 victories and six championships with the No. 3/29 car from 1984-2013.
Dillon is a different personality, without that duo’s aggressive swagger and some of the eye-popping statistics they’ve accumulated. Critics say he’s only still in the car because of nepotism; Austin’s the grandson of Richard Childress and the son of team Executive Vice President Mike Dillon.
It’s a connection rarely lost on the driver himself. One of the more compelling moments of his post-race presser at Daytona is when Dillon opened up about teammate Tyler Reddick leaving the organization.
“For me, being an owner’s son sometimes comes with caveats, and I wanted to make sure that I had nothing to do with the reasons that he was leaving,” Dillon said. “When I called him, I was like, ‘Hey, man, I just want make sure I’ve been a good teammate to you.’ He said, ‘No, you have been an amazing teammate. Me and Alexa (de Leon, Reddick’s girlfriend) really enjoyed being around you guys.’”
Should Dillon be displaying more confidence in his own abilities? There’s a case to be made on both sides…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Frontstretch…