Austin Dillon entered the 2025 NASCAR season without any set plans to compete in the Xfinity Series race for Richard Childress Racing, the team for which he competes full-time in the Cup Series, but that changed when the team added the No. 3 Chevrolet for him at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May.
After that race, his first for Richard Childress' team at the Xfinity level since 2018 and his first Xfinity race of any kind since 2023, he was supposed to be done for the year.
But then that changed when his grandfather needed somebody to replace full-time driver Austin Hill behind the wheel of the No. 21 Chevrolet at Iowa Speedway, following NASCAR's decision to suspend Hill for his absurd right-rear hook on Joe Gibbs Racing's Aric Almirola at Indianapolis Motor Speedway two weekends ago.
Dillon finished in 14th place at Iowa Speedway this past weekend, but now Hill is set to return for this weekend's Mission 200 at The Glen at Watkins Glen International, having served his weekend on the sidelines.
Austin Hill to return at Watkins Glen
Many have argued that Hill's punishment wasn't nearly enough. However, he was also stripped of his 21 playoff points (three race wins, six stage wins), which were third-most in the series, and cannot score any more playoff points from now until the end of the regular season, including the extra playoff points he would have scored with a top 10 finish in the regular season standings.
He is still playoff eligible, but he is effectively set to start the 12-driver postseason as the No. 12 seed as further punishment.
As for Dillon, he is in a must-win situation on the Cup side if he wants to make it into the playoffs, sitting down in 28th place in the point standings.
Fortunately for him, he has won his way into the playoffs from below the cut line four times before, and it would have been five had NASCAR not encumbered his Richmond Raceway win last August, when he wrecked Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin going for the win. Nobody else has done it more than twice since the modern playoff format was implemented back in 2014.
He notably avoided suspension and kept the victory; his win simply didn't count toward playoff eligibility.
Tune in to the CW Network at 3:00 p.m. ET this Saturday, August 9 for the live broadcast of the Mission 200 at The Glen from Watkins Glen International. Begin a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss any of the action!