Beyond the Cockpit: Austin Dillon on His Family Business of NASCAR

Richard Childress Racing has held a place in NASCAR history since 1969, when Childress fielded his own cars. Once Childress decided to give up the driver’s seat, he found his greatest success as an owner. RCR has amassed 118 Cup Series wins, along with 105 victories in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and 31 in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. RCR also fielded six of Dale Earnhardt’s seven Cup titles. The organization holds six NOAPS titles with five different drivers and a pair of Truck championships.

The driver who has posted two of those titles (Trucks 2011 and NOAPS 2013) is Childress’ grandson, Austin Dillon, a third-generation driver who has had modest success in the Cup Series with six career wins. Dillon grew up surrounded by RCR and its many winning drivers and has learned to race with grit and determination while positioning RCR for future growth.

Frontstretch sat down with Dillon to talk about RCR’s legacy, its future, and the role he hopes to play after his driving days are done.

Amy Henderson, Frontstretch.com: You’ve grown up with a team that’s been in the sport for a long, long time — the second longest tenure in the sport. What was it like just growing up around the team and getting to be a part of so much history that happened?

Austin Dillon: Well, I think, you know, growing up at RCR was really special. There’s a legacy there. There’s a lot of history like you talked about. We want to uphold that and do a good job for our employees in Welcome, N.C. It’s something we’re very proud of, obviously, it being one of the oldest NASCAR teams out there. We just want to carry it on through the family.

Henderson: Is there extra pressure driving for the family business?

Dillon: There’s always pressure in anything you do in life when you’re trying make a lot of people proud and keep a lot of people employed. So, yeah, there’s pressure, especially with the No. 3 and the history that it carries and the legacy of RCR.

Henderson: Everybody thinks the No. 3 is synonymous with Dale Earnhardt, but before that your grandfather drove that number, so how special is it to drive the car he drove? 

Dillon: It’s really cool. Looking back at some of the pictures of him in the number three, and Dale Earnhardt. There are actually a lot of really good race car drivers that have driven that number. Junior Johnson, I think, was the one that kind of got my grandfather out to run the number three, so the history of it is very special, but obviously the guy that made it the most famous is Dale, and what he was able to accomplish in our cars and the championships that he was able to win. But that number is just legendary in our sport.

Henderson: You got to be part of some of those championships as a kid, but since then RCR has had a number of outstanding and future Hall of Fame drivers that you’ve grown up watching or driven alongside: Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Ryan Newman and Jeff Burton. Obviously, their legacy is a huge part of the team, too. What did you learn from the different people who came through and what have you been able to carry through? 

Dillon: I think all those guys have left an imprint on RCR in some way, shape or form, and taught me about how to carry myself as a racecar driver — the good, the bad, the ugly, all of it. You learn a lot from those guys, and they’re all very successful NASCAR drivers. I think my grandfather has done a good job of choosing those guys along the way.

Henderson: Absolutely. What’s the secret of the team’s longevity do you think? Teams have come and gone — a lot of them, and you’re still here.

Dillon: I think it’s our employees. You can’t get to where we’re at without great employees and a trust. It’s a family atmosphere, so I think those are the keys, the family atmosphere and the great people that we had along the way and still have.

Henderson: This is your family business, but was there ever a time in your life growing up when you thought, ‘I don’t know if I want to do this’? 

Dillon: As a kid you have a lot of things you want to try and do. I think all paths led back to here, but I’ve enjoyed a lot of other type of businesses that I’ve watched my grandfather dabble in and be successful in, and myself just trying different things now, but RCR and NASCAR is always the foundation of what we do as a family. 

Henderson: What role do you play now, if any, in the day-to-day operations?

Dillon: We’re doing everything to get our cars back to where we want them to be, and that’s consistently running out front. I would love to see us get RC a championship, another one. Just anytime I can help in any shape or form, I want to do that.

Henderson: Where do you see, or where are you hoping to see RCR 10 years or 20 years from now? You’ve got a little one now; do you hope he’s going to your footsteps? 

Dillon: I just hope that we continue to grow RCR and become as successful as we’ve ever been, match some of the glory days of the company. Build toward the future and keep growing that brand that RC has been able to create.

Henderson: I’m not going ask you for a timeline because everybody always does that, but will you be involved with the team after your driving career?

Dillon: I definitely hope so. I feel like that’s the plan. I’m doing a lot now, but my main focus is the driving part because that’s what my job is. So as soon as that comes a different task, I will put my full focus on whatever the family and RC want me to do.

Henderson: Is that something [your brother] Ty’s also going to be involved in?

Dillon: For sure, down the road. Ty [Dillon] is really starting to put a lot of effort in on the RCR side, but he’s also driving for Kaulig Racing, so that’s his main focus. We’re both being able to put a little bit of percentage into RCR from a time perspective to help my grandfather, and my dad stepped up a lot this year as well, so he’s doing a really good job. I think we’re all kind of pulling the weight together, and that’s a great thing about having a family, a pretty big family, is that we can all start to pull the weight. 

Henderson: Your team has had really strong technical alliances over the last 10 to 15 years. How does that help? We know what they get from you, and they bring in some revenue but how else do they help? 

Dillon: Well, I think anytime you can have more cars on the track to get more information to compete with the bigger four-car teams, you’ve got to be able to do that.  Then, supplying great engines — ECR is a big cornerstone of our company, and then that and anything technical we can do to help these other teams that we bring in this is big.

Henderson What kind of support do you get from Chevrolet?

Dillon: Chevrolet has always been a pillar of RCR. When you think of RCR, you think Chevrolet and what GM has done for us; you can’t put into words how big they are of a partner for us.

Henderson: RCR as an organization had an incredible loss this year. You’re still at the track every week. Obviously, emotionally for the team and the family, it’s difficult, but then you throw in there that into you’re having to learn to communicate and work with a whole new teammate [Austin Hill]. How difficult has that been and how are you handling it? 

Dillon: I think we’re in the grind of the season, and you have learned to push through certain things and adversity. When we settle down in the off-season, I think there’ll be a time to really reflect and think about what we lost this year in Kyle [Busch]. You know, I think the 8/18 day was great, looking at some of the memories and pictures that were posted during that. Seeing [the Busch family] at the RCR family day, at the baseball game was awesome, getting to throw the ball with Brexton [Busch]. But like I said, you know we’re all competitors, and we want to go out there and run well for Kyle. So right now, it’s about competition, but there’s going to be a time for reflection, I’m sure, for a lot of our employees, myself and our family.

Henderson: Have you been helping Brexton with his racing a little bit? 

Dillon: I haven’t really yet. I want to; I want to help any way I can. You know if [Samantha Busch] wants me to come out, I’ll be there and help and do what I can. I actually probably helped him more with his baseball throwing than anything the other week. You know, he’s got a good group around him. Sam is an awesome manager for him and Dakota does a good job as well, so I think they’ve got a good group and surrounding him, but they know if they need anything from us, we’ll be there.

Henderson: Do you think we’ll see him driving one of your cars one of these days?

Dillon: I think that would be awesome.