“I Look Up To His Heroism”: Austin Dillon Speaks Out on Charlie Kirk’s Death As RCR Cars Carry Memorial Decal

Jerry Bonkowski | 13/09/2025
NASCAR Cup Series driver Austin Dillon (3) during the Cookouts Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.

Richard Childress Racing drivers Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch, and Austin Hill are among several NASCAR drivers this weekend who are remembering the late political activist Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated earlier this week in Utah.

Dillon, Busch, and Hill are carrying stickers on their respective race cars for this weekend’s racing action at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Dillon is very religious and followed Kirk’s career and his teachings and debates. The grandson of team owner Richard Childress spoke to reporters during a media availability session at the track on Friday afternoon.

“First of all, it’s a tragic incident where a man’s life was taken and he leaves behind two children and a wife,” Dillon said. “I look up to his heroism when it comes to standing for God.

“And I love some of his teachings of the Bible, his ability to debate without really attacking someone.”

In a sense, Kirk’s death has inspired Dillon to lean even more upon his religious faith.

“I thought that it’s just a very sad day,” Dillon said, “and all I know is it makes me want to get into the Bible more and learn more about Jesus and try and spread the word whenever I can.”

Heading into the final race of the first round of the 2025 Playoffs, Dillon finds himself 11 points below the cutoff line heading into ‘The World’s Fastest Half Mile,’ with hopes of making a decent enough run to qualify for the next round.

Teammate Kyle Busch, on the other hand, finds himself out of the postseason altogether. The No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro driver is searching for his first win, looking to break his winless streak, which has been long drawn out ever since Busch’s last win, which came at Gateway all the way back in 2023.

Post Edited By: Rahul Ahluwalia
Austin Dillon Austin Hill Bristol Motor Speedway Charlie Hill Kyle Busch Richard Childress Richard Childress Racing

About the author

Jerry Bonkowski

Jerry Bonkowski

Jerry Bonkowski is a veteran sportswriter who has worked full-time for many of the top media outlets in the world, including USA Today (15 years), ESPN.com (4+ years), Yahoo Sports (4 1/2 years), NBCSports.com (8 years) and others. He has covered virtually every major professional and collegiate sport there is, including the Chicago Bulls' six NBA championships (including heavy focus on Michael Jordan), the Chicago Bears Super Bowl XX-winning season, the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs World Series championships, two of the Chicago Blackhawks' NHL titles, Tiger Woods' PGA Tour debut, as well as many years of beat coverage of the NFL, MLB, NHL and NBA for USA Today. But Jerry's most notable achievement has been covering motorsports, most notably NASCAR, IndyCar, NHRA drag racing and Formula One. He has had a passion for racing since he started going to watch drag races at the old U.S. 30 Dragstrip (otherwise known as "Where the Great Ones Run!") in Hobart, Indiana. Jerry has covered countless NASCAR, IndyCar and NHRA races and championship battles over the years. He's also the author of a book, "Trading Paint: 101 Great NASCAR Debates", published in 2010 (and he's hoping to soon get started on another book). Away from sports, Jerry was a fully sworn part-time police officer for 20 years, enjoys reading and music (especially "hair bands" from the 1980s and 1990s), as well as playing music on his electric keyboard, driving (fast, of course!), spending time with Cyndee his wife of nearly 40 years, the couple's three adult children and three grandchildren (with more to come!), and his three dogs -- including two German Shepherds and an Olde English Bulldog who thinks he's a German Shepherd.. Jerry still gets the same excitement of seeing his byline today as he did when he started in journalism as a 15-year-old high school student. He is looking forward to writing hundreds, if not thousands, of stories in the future for TheSportsRush.com, as well as interacting with readers.

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