NASCAR: 5 playoff drivers who have no need to panic
By Asher Fair
NASCAR drivers who don’t need to panic: No. 2 – Austin Dillon
Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon needed to win the regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway last year to get into the playoffs for the fifth time in the last seven years, and he managed to do that.
Dillon has become somewhat of a pro at winning races to qualify for the playoffs from outside the top 16 in points, having done so now in four of the last six seasons.
He was in contention to win this year’s Daytona 500 before being taken out late, and he followed that up with a relatively quiet ninth place finish at Auto Club Speedway.
He only sits in 23rd place in the point standings, and Dillon isn’t the kind of driver whom fans tend to think of when it comes to drivers capable of going on big runs or winning streaks.
However, this is a resurgent Richard Childress Racing team that means business, as newcomer Kyle Busch demonstrated by winning in just his second start behind the wheel of the No. 8 Chevrolet.
Even before Busch’s arrival, Richard Childress Racing were trending upward, having collected four wins, their highest single-season win total since 2013, a year ago. Their combined win total from 2014 to 2021 was only four. Dillon was responsible for three of those four wins.
They were one of the teams that seemed to take advantage of the introduction of the Gen 7 car, and that hasn’t changed in year number two. Expect Dillon to make his way up the standings.