Dover, Del. – When NASCAR announced the In-Season Challenge for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season, few predicted that Kaulig Racing’s Ty Dillon would be one of the final four drivers entering the semifinal round at Dover Motor Speedway. Dillon came in as the 32nd seed and, unlike other lower-seeded drivers, such as William Byron, his results and performance have not been at the same level.
To get to this moment took years of trials and mountains to climb.
“Ideally, it’s not what I laid out when I started racing,” Dillon told Frontstretch. “I was going through the [NASCAR Craftsman] Truck and Xfinity Series winning races and battling for championships- I thought the Cup career would be the same, and it just hasn’t.”
Where many would see adversity, Dillon saw opportunity and a path to get to where he is today.
“I’ve been in and out of the sport with many different teams, different manufacturers, but I wouldn’t change my journey for anything,” he said. “It’s developed me into who I am as a driver; it’s given me so much perspective and gratitude for the situation I’m now in at Kaulig Racing.”
Opportunity struck again when EchoPark Speedway’s second race of the season opened up the first round of the In-Season Challenge with a wreck taking out several contenders, allowing Dillon to move ahead of Denny Hamlin and sparking the flame for his one-liners that have gone viral.
“I knew it was a track for opportunity, and it turned out we ran really strong and were going to put pressure on Denny [Hamlin] no matter what. It told us anything is possible from here on out,” Dillon added.
The bigger picture is still what matters, and not just advancing through the bracket. The No. 10 team feels that if they execute and do things the right way, they’re going to put pressure on the drivers they’re facing and have a chance to beat them.
“Last week [at Sonoma Raceway], we picked an opposite strategy to beat the 48 [Alex Bowman] straight up,” he explained. “The race came to us, and he fell back into our trap, and we were able to take advantage of the opportunity.”
Relationships are the glue that keeps any race team together from the grassroots level up to Cup. Those relationships with sponsors matter so much and have paid off with the social media clips and post-race interviews he has done.
“My social media platforms have been blowing up for sure; if it wasn’t for Sea Beds and Grizzly Nicotine Pouches, so much of what’s going on wouldn’t happen,” he continued. “We probably wouldn’t be racing this year without them; their brands lined up with my personality, too, and the people behind the brands.”
While Dillon has been the man of the month, staying true to who both he and Kaulig Racing are is what matters most.
“If we make it through this round, we’ll be who we are and we’ll go to Indianapolis [Motor Speedway], a place I’ve won at in the past, and we’ll go give them hell for one last round.”
