Austin Dillon’s Second Top-10 of 2024 Saves RCR Day After Kyle Busch Misfortune

34-year-old Austin Dillon turned out to be the savior of both Richard Childress Racing and Chevrolet during the latest Cup Series race at Gateway. With teammate Kyle Busch out of contention after a crash with Kyle Larson in stage 2, the ball fell to him to coast his team to the checkered flag. He did so with an impressive 6th-place result.

Dillon also finished highest amongst the on-field Chevrolets after starting the race from 18th place. It was his second top-10 finish in 2024. The first came in Texas back in April. Notably, it was also his best finish in the Cup Series in over a year, after his 3rd-place finish at the Bristol dirt track last year. He now sits in 30th place on the points table.

Pleased with the performance of his #3 Chevrolet team, he told the press, “That was a huge run for this team. I didn’t expect it after practice, but the guys made some great adjustments and our No. 3 DOW / Rivers are Life Chevy, with Ducks Unlimited on the side of the car, was really solid all day long, even in traffic. It was just a solid day for the No. 3 Chevy team that we really needed.”

Keeping the two top 10s away, Dillon has not been having a noteworthy season thus far. He has finished outside the top 20 in 12 of the first 15 races. This is by far his worst start to a season since gaining full-time entry to the Cup Series back in 2014. Childress tried swapping the driver’s crew chief to help with his results back in April.

When Justin Alexander took over the team as a chief, he said of his goals, “We want to increase the consistency and performance of where they’re at right now. The goal is to get a win and get into the playoffs and try to make our way through and win a championship.” Unfortunately, his plans have not taken him a long way towards his goal. The team hopes they will be able to build on Sunday’s result and visit victory lane in the regular season’s final 11 races.