It’s been a hard Cup Series season for Austin Dillon so far. Eight races in, he has yet to finish inside the top 10. The best he’s managed so far is 12th at the Phoenix Raceway, which is still way better than his 23rd-place finish at the Darlington Raceway last Sunday.
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Yep, life’s tough in NASCAR’s top tier. But the 11-year veteran should be used to it by now. It’s not the first time the Richard Childress Racing driver has had to face pretty challenging tests. In fact, some have been so severe that a P23 finish can be seen as a good result!
Dillon’s severest test came at Martinsville in 2020. The painful memory of the race clearly continues to haunt him, as he immediately brought up the 2020 incident when asked when he had been the most miserable inside of a race car.
It’s understandable why. His right-rear tire blew early in the race and brought out a caution on Lap 5. The impact also knocked a crush panel out of the No. 3 Chevrolet Camaro. This, in turn, led to excessive heat reaching the cockpit.
“Halfway through that race, I remember racing somebody, and I’m just hitting him down the straightaway. I’m like, “Tell him I’m not trying to do that. I’m barely in control of this thing, ‘” Dillon told The Athletic recently, narrating the incident.
Despite the heat, he managed to race through two stages and came down to the pit road to get fresh tires. However, he was so tired and worn out at this point that he was disoriented.
The red button was clicked, he pulled the car into gear, and drove off before his left rear tire had been fixed.
“I thought I had hurt Paul Swan, the tire carrier, and hurt the jackman, Derrell [Edwards]. I said, ‘You guys have got to get me out of this.’ I was just baked,” he revealed.
He quit the race with 100 laps left and was handed a 37th-place finish. “They pulled me out of the car, and I went to the infield care center and got an IV,” he added.
To help with the heat, Dillon had tried pouring water on himself and placing an icepack between his legs during the race. But the water had oozed down to his aluminum seat and begun boiling. This gave him blisters.
What was more heartbreaking for Dillon was that his car was splendidly fast throughout the race. It was a pity that he couldn’t capitalize on the advantage.
Back to this season, Dillon will be trying his best to get a good performance under his belt at the Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend. Hopefully, he will break the streak of poor finishes and secure a decent result for his grandfather, Richard Childress.
