Now heading into his sophomore season with Richard Childress Racing, Austin Dillon is excited to go and set to make the Chase for the Championship this upcoming season.
“I think now that one year of the new Chase format has been complete, everyone will head into 2015 more prepared,” he told SpeedwayMedia.com. “The emphasis on winning will be even greater because we now know for sure that that’s what needs to happen in order to make the Chase.”
Noting that his rookie was “about learning and making laps”, which was accomplished in completing 99.5 percent of the laps en route to finishing 20th in points. Now the 24-year-old is focused on being a “stronger and more aggressive as a driver” than he was last year while becoming a contender to win races to be part of the chaos throughout the year.
“I have to work hard and push myself,” he said. “We want to make the Chase and we want to win races. Race wins will come with consistent, top-five finishes. At RCR, we have everything we need to achieve our goals…talented people, technology, cars, engineers. We all want it. It’s just a matter of believing in ourselves and going for it.”
Reflecting back on last year, Dillon notes one of the biggest thing is that you can’t simply rely on having talent behind the wheel, as everybody in the Sprint Cup Series has talent.
“Some people can rely on talent and that is unbelievable,” he commented. “But it is going to take more for me to get prepared better and be ready when I get to the track to make it happen.”
Though in the process of looking for improvement, he and the No. 3 team are also working to figure out the rule changes that have been set forth by NASCAR. In searching for what is going to work, Dillon notes that it will be a benefit to run some XFINITY races this year.
“I’m very thankful to have the opportunity with Rheem because I think that with the new rules package the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series cars and the NASCAR XFINITY Series cars are closer than they’ve ever been,” he commented. “I think there will be more opportunity than there ever has been before to transfer information that you learn on Saturday into Sunday’s race. We’re all still learning the rules package, but running those Saturday races will help.”
With the Daytona 500 only a couple weeks away, there’s no secret that the young driver is excited to get back to the track that gave him his first Sprint Cup Series pole. Though beyond that, Dillon says that he is looking forward to both restrictor plate races – Daytona and Talladega – due to Richard Childress Racing’s history of winning at both tracks.
“The history and prestige of those tracks just speaks for itself,” he commented. “I also really like Kentucky. Las Vegas is another one. We were extremely fast at Michigan last year, and I think we were pretty close to getting my first win but had problems at the very end of the race. I like Pocono, too. We showed a lot of speed at Pocono.”
Going into the year last year, the big story was the return the No. 3 and with a successful season under his belt, it is something that fans have grown comfortable with seeing back on track. Dillon says carrying the historic number carries a lot of pressure, but that can be a good thing.
“There’s pressure, but that’s a good thing and something I feel very fortunate for and take great responsibility for,” he spoke of the number. “Not every number gives you pressure. This number, the No. 3, means so much. It pushes me to be better, to go to the gym, to talk to my crew chief, Gil Martin and to be with the guys on the team every day. The number pushes me and that’s a good thing.”
