Austin Dillon
| Austin Dillon | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||||
| Born | April 27, 1990 Lewisville, North Carolina, United States | ||||||
| Achievements | 2011 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Champion | ||||||
| Awards | 2008 K&N Pro Series East Rookie of the Year 2010 Camping World Truck Series Rookie of the Year 2011 Camping World Truck Series Most Popular Driver | ||||||
| NASCAR Cup Series career | |||||||
| 1 race run over 1 year | |||||||
| 2011 position | 26th | ||||||
| Best finish | 26th - 2011 | ||||||
| First race | 2011 Hollywood Casino 400 (Kansas) | ||||||
| |||||||
| NASCAR Xfinity Series career | |||||||
| 13 races run over 5 years | |||||||
| Car no., team | No. 3 (Richard Childress Racing) | ||||||
| 2011 position | 107th | ||||||
| Best finish | 80th – 2009 | ||||||
| First race | 2008 Emerson Radio 250 (Richmond) | ||||||
| Last race | 2024 SciAps 200 (Loudon) | ||||||
| |||||||
| NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career | |||||||
| 52 races run over 3 years | |||||||
| 2011 position | 1st | ||||||
| Best finish | 1st – 2011 | ||||||
| First race | 2009 Lucas Oil 200 (Iowa) | ||||||
| Last race | 2011 Ford 200 (Homestead) | ||||||
| First win | 2010 Lucas Oil 200 (Iowa) | ||||||
| Last win | 2011 Fast Five 225 (Chicagoland) | ||||||
| |||||||
| Statistics current as of March 3, 2012. | |||||||
Austin Dillon (born April 27, 1990)[1] is an American stock car racing driver. He is the son of former driver and RCR general manager Mike Dillon and grandson of Richard Childress.[2]
He currently drives the #3 AdvoCare/Bass Pro Shops/American Ethanol Chevrolet Impala full-time for Richard Childress Racing (RCR) in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. After winning Rookie of the Year in the Truck Series in 2010, Dillon won the Truck Series championship in 2011. Dillon is also the co-chair of the Reagan Foundation's National Youth Leadership Committee. Dillon has a brother named Ty who races for Richard Childress in the Camping World Truck Series.
Racing career
2008: K&N Pro Series East
Dillon was the 2008 Sunoco Rookie of the Year in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East after one win at Greenville-Pickens Speedway, one Pole and ten top-10s in 13 races.[3] In 2008 and 2009, he drove the #2 Chevrolet Impala part time for Richard Childress Racing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series with sponsorship from Chevrolet. His career best finish was 4th at Memphis Motorsports Park in 2008.
2009–2011: Camping World Truck Series
He made his first Camping World Truck Series start at Iowa Speedway, driving the #3 truck, the first time that the number has appeared in the three major series since Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in the Nationwide Series back in 2002. He would finish 12th. Dillon was supposed to start the Mountain Dew 250 at Talladega Superspeedway during the 2009 Camping World Truck Series season, but the truck failed track inspections, thus his time was removed and was not allowed to race. Dillon would drive the #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 3rd and led 20 laps. On July 11, 2010, Dillon scored his first career NASCAR victory in the Lucas Oil 200 at Iowa Speedway in the Camping World Truck Series and brought the #3 truck back to victory lane since Bryan Reffner in 2000 at Texas Motor Speedway. Although, when Reffner won, he was not driving for RCR (Jay Sauter was the last driver to win for the team in 1999), he was driving for Team Menard. Austin Dillion would win his record setting 5th pole the most for a rookie in series history. Along with the pole he would lead over 92 laps of 146 to claim his 2nd win of the season at Las Vegas and the second of his career. Austin Dillon was also rookie of the year ending the season with 2 wins 7 top 5s and 16 top 10s.
In 2011, Dillon scored his first win of the year at Nashville Superspeedway. Austin 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, Austin was crowned 2011 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Champion. He also won the 2011 CWTS Most Popular Driver Award. In 2012 he will move up to the Nationwide Series full time, driving the #3 for RCR.
2011-present: Sprint Cup Series
Austin Dillon made his first career start in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series on October 9, 2011. He finished 26th in his No. 98 Camping World Curb/Agajanian Racing Chevrolet Impala.
2012-present: Nationwide series
On November 4, 2011, Richard Childress Racing announced that Dillon would be moving up to the NASCAR Nationwide Series in 2012, driving the No. 3 that Dale Earnhardt made famous, with sponsorship from AdvoCare and American Ethanol.[4][5]
Dillon scored top-five finishes in each of the first two races of the 2012 Nationwide Series season.
Notes
- Dillon is currently attending High Point University.
- Dillon also played in the 2002 Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
References
- ^ Driver's stats at racing-reference.info
- ^ http://www.everyjoe.com/articles/austin-dillon-to-drive-the-no-3-car-200/
- ^ Driver's bio at teamdillonracing.com
- ^ Bromberg, Nick (November 4, 2011). "Austin Dillon to drive No. 3 in Nationwide Series in 2012". From the Marbles. Yahoo! Sports. Retrieved 2012-03-04.
- ^ "American Ethanol to sponsor Austin Dillon, Richard Childress Racing in 2012". AutoWeek. January 22, 2012. Retrieved 2012-03-04.
External links
- Official website
- Austin Dillon driver statistics at Racing-Reference
