71 Facts About Austin Dillon

1.

Austin Dillon competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No 3 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing.

2.

Austin Dillon is the grandson of RCR team owner Richard Childress, the older brother of Ty Dillon who competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, and the son of Mike Dillon, a former racing driver who currently works as RCR's general manager.

3.

Austin Dillon won the Rookie of the Year award in both series in the year before he won the championship.

4.

Austin Dillon holds the record for most consecutive poles in the Nationwide Series with four.

5.

Austin Dillon is nicknamed The Ace, a moniker he received from his mother.

6.

Austin Dillon began his racing career in the Bandolero Mini Cars series and the Legend Cars Series.

7.

Austin Dillon was the 2008 Rookie of the Year in the NASCAR Camping World East Series.

8.

Austin Dillon ran the full schedule in the No 3 Chevrolet initially driving for Andy Santerre Motorsports; he eventually moved under his grandfather's Richard Childress Racing banner after four races.

9.

Austin Dillon scored one win at Greenville-Pickens Speedway, one pole and ten top-ten finishes in 13 races.

10.

Austin Dillon made his first Camping World Truck Series start at Iowa Speedway, driving the No 3 truck.

11.

Austin 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 failed to qualify for the race.

12.

Austin Dillon would drive the No 3 truck full-time in 2010 for Rookie of the Year, with sponsorship from Bass Pro Shops.

13.

On July 11, Austin 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.

14.

Austin Dillon ended the season with two wins and seven poles, earning him Rookie of the Year honors.

15.

In 2011, Austin Dillon scored his first win of the year at Nashville Superspeedway.

16.

Austin Dillon scored his second win of 2011 at Chicagoland Speedway, beating Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch.

17.

Austin Dillon won the 2011 CWTS Most Popular Driver Award.

18.

Austin Dillon made his first career start in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series on October 9,2011, in the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway.

19.

On November 4,2011, Richard Childress Racing announced that Austin 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.

20.

Austin 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.

21.

On June 29,2012, Austin 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.

22.

Austin Dillon participated in one race in the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series at Circuit Gilles-Villeuneuve in Montreal in August 2012.

23.

Austin Dillon finished 7th while driving the No 4 car for Fitzpatrick Motorsports.

24.

Austin 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.

25.

Austin 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.

26.

Later in the year Austin Dillon substituted for the ailing Brennan Newberry in the Truck Series race at Chicagoland Speedway.

27.

On November 16,2013, Austin Dillon won the NASCAR Nationwide Series Championship with a 12th-place finish in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

28.

On December 11,2013, it was announced by RCR that Austin Dillon will drive the No 3 Chevrolet in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series with Cheerios and Dow Chemical Company as the primary sponsors.

29.

Austin 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.

30.

Austin Dillon finished second in the rookie of the year standings to Kyle Larson.

31.

Austin Dillon climbed out of the car unharmed, except for a bruised tailbone and a bruise on his forearm, but five fans were injured by flying debris.

32.

However, Austin Dillon did manage to win 4 Xfinity races, even though he was running only a part-time schedule.

33.

Austin Dillon competed part-time in the Xfinity Series in 2016, splitting the No 2 of RCR with six other drivers.

34.

Austin Dillon's car hit the turn four wall but was able to hang on for the win.

35.

At the first Talladega Cup race, Austin Dillon scored a career-best 3rd-place finish after getting caught up in two big crashes.

36.

Austin Dillon opened the season with a fourth-place finish in his Can-Am Duel, where he pushed Denny Hamlin past the dominant car of Dale Earnhardt Jr.

37.

When NASCAR returned to Martinsville for the first time in 2017, Austin Dillon scored a season-best 5th place outing.

38.

At Texas, Austin Dillon was unable to start the Cup race on the lead lap due to a broken track bar that put him 11 laps down.

39.

Austin Dillon went to finish a career-best 11th in the final point standings despite getting eliminated after the round of 16.

40.

In 2018, Austin Dillon returned the No 3 to Victory Lane in the Cup Series.

41.

Austin Dillon won the 2018 Daytona 500, after coming from a lap down within 20 laps to go to second on the final lap.

42.

Austin Dillon hit Aric Almirola in the right rear after Almirola tried blocking him, sending him into the outside wall.

43.

Austin Dillon was eliminated in the Round of 16 after hitting the outside wall twice at the Charlotte Roval race and finished the season 13th in points.

44.

Austin Dillon drove the No 10 Chevrolet for Kaulig Racing at Indianapolis.

45.

For 2019, Austin Dillon began having Danny Stockman atop the pit box for the Cup Series.

46.

However, with 40 laps to go, as severe weather was approaching the track, Clint Bowyer made contact with Austin Dillon causing a multi-car accident.

47.

Austin Dillon failed to make the playoffs for the first time since 2015 as he fell outside the top twenty in points.

48.

Austin Dillon finished 21st in the final points standings, tying his lowest in a full-time season with zero-top fives for the first time in his career.

49.

At Las Vegas, Austin Dillon managed to score his first top-five finish of 2020 and first since the 2018 Consumers Energy 400, coming home fourth.

50.

On July 19, Austin Dillon broke an 88-race winless streak by claiming his 3rd career victory at the 2020 O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

51.

Austin Dillon returned to the No 3 for the following week at Dover.

52.

At the Southern 500, Austin Dillon had to start from the rear as a result of unapproved adjustments, later had to take an unscheduled pit stop for a flat tire, and rallied to finish second.

53.

Austin Dillon began the 2021 season with a win in his Duel for the Daytona 500 by passing Bubba Wallace on the final lap, which enabled him to start fourth for the 500.

54.

Austin Dillon would go on to lead 7 laps in the 500 and finish in 3rd-place after avoiding a last-lap crash, assuming the points lead for the first time in his career.

55.

Austin Dillon managed to qualify the No 77 and finished 13th.

56.

Austin Dillon drove in the No 23 for Our Motorsports for 2 races, as well as JAR's No 31 for a race.

57.

Austin Dillon nearly flipped on impact and was on his side for a couple of seconds.

58.

Austin Dillon was unharmed and climbed out of the car.

59.

Austin Dillon started the 2022 season with a 25th-place finish at the 2022 Daytona 500.

60.

Austin Dillon scored three top-three finishes at Fontana, Martinsville, and Talladega.

61.

Austin Dillon assumed the lead after a huge wreck caused by rainfall took out much of the lead pack on lap 138; Dillon, who was sixteenth at the time, was the only driver in the lead pack to not be involved in the accident.

62.

Austin Dillon was eliminated in the Round of 16 after being involved in a multi-car pileup at the Bristol night race.

63.

Austin Dillon finished the season 11th in the points standings.

64.

Austin Dillon drove the same truck in the race at Atlanta in 2018.

65.

On October 28,2022, RCR announced that Keith Rodden would be on the pit box for Austin Dillon starting in 2023.

66.

Austin Dillon started the season with a 33rd place DNF at the 2023 Daytona 500.

67.

In 2021, Austin Dillon joined RWR-Eurasia Motorsport for his 24 Hours of Daytona debut, sharing an LMP2 car with Cody Ware and Salih Yoluc.

68.

In 2019, Austin Dillon made a cameo in the movie Stuber alongside brother Ty and fellow driver Daniel Suarez.

69.

Austin Dillon guest starred in the television series SEAL Team Season 3, Episode 14 "Objects in Mirror", as a NASCAR driving instructor for the protagonists.

70.

Austin Dillon became engaged to former NFL cheerleader Whitney Ward on August 9,2016.

71.

Austin Dillon played in the 2002 Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania.