While Sam Hornish Jr. had a poor showing at Dover, Austin Dillon ran strong. That paid off as Dillon was able to gain points and now only sits four points out of the lead.
Heading into the final stretch of races, Dillon will look to continue to close that gap and take the points lead in search of his first points championship. With both drivers having ran strong, Dillon says it won’t take top 10s to win the championship, but solid top five finishes.
“I think it’s going to take top-five finishes, and by top five finishes, I don’t mean you can finish fifth every weekend for the rest of the year and win the championship. I think you need to finish in the top-three consistently.”
In 28 races to date this season, Dillon has finished in the top five in 10 of those. He also has finished inside of the top six in the last three races.
This weekend, though, lies a new challenge as they head to Kansas Speedway. Dillon has one career start at Kansas, finishing second last year. With a pair of intermediate tracks back-to-back – Kansas and then Charlotte – success these next two weeks will be important.
“Sam Hornish, Jr. and I are both really competitive and in order to win the championship, the No. 3 team is going to have to finish ahead of him every weekend,” Dillon stated. “Kansas Speedway is a mile-and-a-half track where we have performed well at in the past. I’m really comfortable there and looking forward to this weekend’s race.”
In the last six intermediate tracks, Dillon has finished inside of the top six at each of them with four top five finishes. On the flip side, Hornish has finished inside the top nine positions in the last six. The last five have seen the driver of the No. 12 Ford Mustang finish inside of the top four. Therefore without a doubt, this will be a close race over the next couple of weeks.
While a championship would showcase the type of success that Dillon has had in his sophomore season, it will also do more for the young driver.
It has already been announced that Dillon will be moving up to the Sprint Cup Series next year. Some say the only reason is simply because he’s Richard Childress’ grandson. However, having a Nationwide Series title on his belt to go with the 2011 Camping World Truck Series crown would help to silence his critics.
Also, with this being his last year in Nationwide, it’s his last chance at winning this division’s title. If he wants to keep the streak going of being champion in each division, he has to keep it going this year.
Dillon has proven that he has matured with each week that has passed, learning what it is like to go all out for wins, while making sure to have those solid points finishes. A championship would just solidify that in the minds of many.
