Ty Dillon is back with a splash in the NASCAR Cup Series this season.
The veteran driver spent last season in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series following an underwhelming stretch in Cup prior. When it seemed his days of racing on Sundays might be over, he got an opportunity in Kaulig Racing’s No. 10, and he is making the most of it so far.
Dillon is currently on pace to finish in the top 25 in points for the first time since 2019 and has his best average finish since that year. He has four top 20s through the first eight races, when he had just five over the course of the whole 2023 season, his last full-time Cup year before this one. But Dillon has showed even more speed than some of his finishes reflect.
At Circuit of the Americas, for example, he finished 28th after Austin Cindric intentionally spun him, damaging the No. 10. Cindric was penalized by NASCAR for the incident. Dillon finished 16th at Phoenix Raceway despite having a bad pit stop and a speeding penalty late.
Dillon talked with Frontstretch during the Las Vegas Motor Speedway race weekend about his opportunity and speed with Kaulig, his feud with Cindric and his newfound connection to John Hunter Nemechek‘s family.
Michael Massie, Frontstretch: How do you feel about your start to the year so far? It feels like you guys have shown some speed.
Ty Dillon: Yeah, certainly, keeping our car up front during the races. The activity is good, the results haven’t been perfect. Daytona [International Speedway] and Phoenix were decent results, but I feel like at Phoenix [I] probably should have had more, which is always a good thing when you’re disappointed with a 16th-place finish because you had more opportunity there.
You look back at Atlanta and [Circuit of the Americas], and those were two situations that were kind of taken out of our hands early. And even if we run 20th in those races, we’re sitting 13th or 14th in points right now.
So we’re happy with the way we’re performing, but there’s so much room to get better on myself and everything, just kind of cleaning up the edges. The goal is to keep keeping ourselves up front and our year will progress the way we want it to.
Massie: At Phoenix, you lost spots on pit road, and then there’s the speeding penalty as well. If those pit mistakes don’t happen, how high do you think you guys would have finished?
Dillon: It’s hard to say, looking back at it. But we [came] off pit road in 10th, so I think anywhere between eighth to 12th is probably realistically where we probably land. And who knows, you know, those restarts get crazy, and [we] could get up even further.
We definitely probably cost ourself a good six spots by me speeding and just making a mistake there, and those are things that you’re gonna have to learn, I gotta learn as far as running up front at the end of those races in those high pressure situations. I think in my mind, you feel like you’ve got to push to the fullest limit when you’re running up front. I get that opportunity, and I do so and I just stepped over the line a little bit, kind of followed [Tyler] Reddick off the cliff there a little bit. We both got penalized.
But I think just going back, I’d be able to be more relaxed in that situation and realize that I don’t have to be so tight on my lights down pit road and knowing that we would have a little bit more gap to be OK. So [it’s] just a learning situation. We definitely looked at it. We’re gonna make some adjustments so that when we’re in that spot the next time, that doesn’t happen.
Massie: At the beginning of the year, you said this is the best opportunity you’ve ever had. Five weeks in, do you still feel that way? Do you feel stronger about what you said?
Dillon: Yeah, no doubt, and I think it’s been evident, everybody’s been talking about it a lot more. They’re realizing that we’re for real with our speed, and they know that something’s going on here. So I think that’s all proven out, and now it’s just a time of sharpening, taking this opportunity and making the most of every single race. We’re not gonna dominate in speed in every race, but we can definitely dominate in our execution. And that’s the focus, and I think we’ve had a solid start to the year. It could have been better, but the future is right in front of us and we feel really strong about the races coming up, starting here at Vegas.
Massie: So what is it about Kaulig? How does it compare to the other teams you’ve been with in your career?
Dillon: Statistically, it’s the best team I’ve ever driven for, wins-wise, finishes and what they’ve been able to do in the sport. So that’s just factual. And then other than the statistics, it’s the people inside the race team. Every man and woman that works on the team has been so supportive and friendly, and as a driver, that helps build confidence and builds a swagger and a belief in yourself, when everybody you feel like is believing in you and wants the best for you.
I’ve been in different situations where it’s not that they didn’t want the best for you, but there’s just a lack of communication across the board of knowing what’s going on, what’s the temperature of the team. Here, [Kaulig President] Chris Rice does an exceptional job, Matt Kaulig does an exceptional job of reaching out constantly and reassuring and believing and saying, “Hey, this was good, but let’s work on this. But hey, we’re happy where we’re at. Let’s just keep pushing and keep pushing.”
That’s something I crave. And whether it’s criticism or constructive criticism, just a constant communication to at least know where you stand with the team, that’s been above and beyond anything I’ve worked with. And I’ve really enjoyed that, and that’s something that I’ve been looking for in my career and really haven’t had it since my Cup racing days.
Massie: You’re paired with AJ Allmendinger this year. What’s he been like to be around?
Dillon: He’s a great teammate. He’s been super great to work with. He’s somebody that made his 450th start last week. So he’s got double the amount of starts, or 200 more starts than me. For me not to listen and just learn from him, especially at these road courses, I mean, he’s incredible. There’s so much there.
My goal this year is … we’re in meetings with Kyle Busch, my brother Austin, who’s won races. Kyle speaks for himself, and AJ, one of the best road course racers, and then he also has some tracks that he’s one of the best that anybody goes to, Homestead[-Miami Speedway] being one that’s coming up. My goal is to just keep my mouth closed, listen and pick up as much tips from those guys so that I can go out there and perform with them and hopefully outperform them.
Massie: Kaulig is kind of at the mid-level range. What’s it gonna take to for Kaulig to get up there with like Hendrick Motorsports, Team Penske and Joe Gibbs Racing?
Dillon: We’re gonna have to execute twice as good as anybody else. We’ve talked about it a lot. There’s 24 teams that are what you would call key partner teams amongst all three manufacturers, right? So if we’re inside that 24 as a technical alliance partner to a key partner, that means we’re outshooting our coverage, we’re out-punting what is expected, and that’s our goal, just to keep doing that.
We’re right there on that cusp. We’re 22nd or 23rd in points [Editor’s note: now 25th]. Just keep ticking away at that and be the best team that’s not a key partner team, and that’s gonna give us the opportunity to win races, opportunities to run up front. We want to go from top 20s are good days [and] top 15s are great days, but once we start getting that top 15, top 10, then you’re starting to think about wins. You run inside the top 10 in the Cup Series and wins are right there around the corner.
Massie: Are there any upcoming races you got circled as ones that you could beat those top teams and take a win, clinch a playoff spot?
Dillon: I’ve never been a guy to pick one track and say … I believe that I have a chance every weekend. I really do, and that’s no BS. I think that I have just as strong a chance at Vegas as I do at Homestead, as I will at Martinsville and even when we go to a road course. I believe in myself at all of them, that when things come together and we execute correctly, we can have an opportunity to win.
Massie: The big news last week was the Austin Cindric penalty for hooking you. If you retaliated or anything, you’d get in trouble. But you can race him different. Are you gonna race him harder, or will you not change anything?
Austin Cindric sends Ty Dillon into a spin. We stay green.@AlwaysRaceDay pic.twitter.com/bj51S4moP4
— Mr Matthew CFB (@MrMatthew_CFB) March 2, 2025
Dillon: No. I mean, I’m glad NASCAR handled their side of it. Austin, I think he knows he messed up. But also, on my side of it for the whole field, I got to show everybody that I’m not gonna let people treat me that way. So we’ll see. It’s gotta be the right timing, and it’s gotta be worth it. I’m not going out of my way to to retaliate anything, but Austin knows that he did something wrong to our team, and I don’t forget.
Massie: I talked to John Hunter Nemechek right before this and asked him if there’s anything he wanted to ask you. And he said, “What’s it gonna be like when you guys are in-laws one day?” So can you tell me about that?
Dillon: Yeah, our little guy, Captain, and his little girl, Aspen, are like best buds and in preschool together. It’s super cute. So yeah, I think my wife … John Hunter was walking by, and she had Captain with her last week and said, “Hey, say hi to your father-in-law.”
So it’s kind of a running joke, but they’re so cute. And Taylor [Nemechek] and John Hunter would be great in-laws to hang out with one day, but we’ll see. It’s a couple of years out, but we’re working on it.
Michael Massie joined Frontstretch in 2017 and has served as the Content Director since 2020.
Massie, a Richmond, Va., native, has covered NASCAR, IndyCar, SRX and the CARS Tour. Outside of motorsports, the Virginia Tech grad and Green Bay Packers minority owner can be seen cheering on his beloved Hokies and Packers.