Richard Childress has been around long enough to know the sport can chew people up and spit them out. Even so, he is keeping one eye on the road ahead, hoping the legacy tied to names like Dale Earnhardt and Kevin Harvick, along with his own, carries through the next chapter at Richard Childress Racing.
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But for now, at 80, Childress still holds the ownership of the RCR team, calls the shots, keeps tabs on the cars under the RCR banner, and stays in the thick of the grind. Down the line, the plan is to pass the baton to the next generation.
That plan already has wheels in motion. Childress has started grooming Austin Dillon for a role beyond the driver’s seat. As the son of Mike Dillon and grandson of Childress, a seat in the front office is there for the taking. But for now, Austin is focusing on driving, choosing to see how far he can push it on track before stepping behind the curtain, while learning about the leadership duties.
Childress said that the family remains at the heart of the plan. “I think that Austin, Ty, Mike, Dylan, our family can help carry that legacy on and build it stronger. I don’t know the future of RCR. You never know.” Childress said. To get Austin ready for that role, Childress has started handing him more responsibility within the fold.
One step in that direction came through the Carolina Cowboys, a franchise tied to Childress in the Professional Bull Riders Team Series, where Austin took on a management role. Childress admitted, “Yes, that was one of the purposes for putting him as our general manager of the Carolina Cowboys was to let him understand what dealing with a sanctioning body. He has to deal with the drivers, deal with agents, deal with riders. “
“So it’s just between that and Ty Dillon’s a very smart businessman. He’s working with my daughter at the winery, and he’s got a good level head on him when it comes to business. And Mike Dillon, my son-in-law, we just moved him up to COO. So we’re making some moves, and we’ll see how it all shakes out,” he continued.
Austin, for his part, has not shut the door on a future off the track. In a conversation with Jeff Gluck last year, he said the switch would come when he felt he had run his race behind the wheel and when the timing lined up for him to carry the load in another way. When that day comes, he plans to move ahead and take over the management role.
For now, though, his focus stays on the Cup Series. After five starts this season, Austin sits 24th in the standings, with an average finish of 22.6 and two DNFs on the record.
