Things are not going well early in the Toyota Owners 400 for Austin Dillon and his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing team. The NASCAR team owner himself had to get on the radio and calm his grandson down.
This season has not gone well for Austin Dillon. Heck, last season did not go well for this team. It has been more of the same so far in 2024 and it feels like Dillon is tired of it all. He was going ballistic on the radio during Stage 2 at Richmond.
“We have dumb-- strategy every f------ week! We’re indecisive, we don’t know what to do!” Dillon said, according to Davey Segal.
Richard Childress responded: “Settle down, drive the car and focus here. It ain’t doing no good talking. Just focus.”
Today’s race in Richmond began on wet weather tires. Things were not horrible in qualifying. Austin Dillon started the race P22. However, between the wet weather tires, switching back to slicks, and the tough track at Richmond – Dillon fell.
Before he knew it, the No. 3 car was running P32 and not gaining at all. This frustration is not just about Richmond Raceway and the Toyota Owners 400. It is about how last season went and how this season is going so far.
Austin Dillon has struggled in 2024
So, good news – Austin Dillon has no DNF finishes in the 2024 season. He led the Cup Series in 2023 with 10 total. He had only seven top-10 finishes and just a single top-5 among those. Nothing worked for him last season.
Well, this season, he’s arguably off to a worse start than last year. P37, P22, P16, P32, P24, and P25 on the year. At this point in the 2023 season, Dillon at least had a single top-10 and a couple of other top-20 finishes to his record.
There is a lot wrong with this No. 3 team. It has been festering for arguably two years now. After so much difficulty and hardship, I think it’s time to think about the future of RCR and what is best for the organization. You have drivers like Austin Hill and Jesse Love waiting in the wings in the Xfinity Series. Brodie Kostecki from Supercars wants to be the next SVG in NASCAR.
Austin Dillon is frustrated, and he should be. If he plans to have a future at RCR after his driving career, and wants this organization to thrive, then he has to get real about his future in that seat. At some point, push comes to shove and there has been a whole lot of pushing with this group.
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