It’s no secret that drivers and team members in NASCAR get rental cars from the same manufacturer they race with. However, that does not seem to be the case with Austin Dillon and his grandfather Richard Childress. The driver of the #3 Chevy Camaro was recently seen getting off his grandfather’s private jet, along with his wife and children, at the Atlanta Speedway Airport before the Cup Series weekend.

After getting off the near-$1.5 million 1981 Beechcraft King Air F90, the driver, along with his family, was seen getting into a Ford Expedition. This was highly unusual, as a Chevrolet driver is usually expected to use a Chevrolet in their personal lives. It is not just a gesture, but some would call it a rule. However, when it comes to a man of Richard Childress’ standing, one may assume that a few concessions could be made. The video was taken by Brian Harmon, owner of the Aviate Alabama YouTube channel. 

Austin Dillon recently became a father of two with the birth of his daughter, Blaize, in 2023. He and his wife Whitney Ward Dillon already had a boy named Ace who was born in 2020, and named after his father’s nickname in NASCAR. While he was present in the video, Blaize wasn’t, but the RCR driver had a baby car seat in his hands. Perhaps she was in there, but it’s unclear.

Regardless, it may be a big deal among the people at Chevy that a veteran owner like Childress rides in a Ford. He is, however, one of the oldest partners of Chevy in NASCAR, so it’s unlikely there will be much consequence. 

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Austin Dillon may have come to the Atlanta Motor Speedway in a fancy private jet owned by his grandfather, but sadly, the result he got on track was anything but fancy.

Back-to-back wrecks in opening races leaves Austin Dillon fuming

The driver of the #3 Richard Childress Racing car crashed in the opening few laps of the event, completely ruining his chances of getting a good finish. At the end of proceedings, the 33-year-old only managed a P22 finish and brought in a haul of a mere 15 points. ‘Ace’ expressed his disappointment later on Instagram as he let his frustrating thoughts on the social media platform.

“Once again, I don’t know what to say. We never got to show what our Breztri Chevy had today at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The right side of the diffuser broke off in the first wreck on lap 2. The guys worked hard to get it back, but we couldn’t overcome the lack of downforce. We tried really hard to race again but without the right side of the diffuser to lean on we slapped the wall again. Salvaged a finish but can’t wait to get to Vegas,” Dillon wrote.

It would have been fine if this was a one-off performance, but it wasn’t. In fact, this was Austin Dillon’s best result in the Cup Series so far this season because something similar happened in the Daytona 500, which had far worse consequences. The driver of the #3 suffered a wreck early on in The Great American Race as well and at the end of proceedings, could only manage a P37 finish and brought in 1 point. Currently, the driver of the #3 is 36th on the points table.

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Dillon needs to clean up his act at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend. Confidence may not be very high in the #3 camp at the moment, but a driver cannot afford to fall into the cycle of finishing lower down the order. The RCR driver needs one good race, probably a top-10 finish, to get his confidence level back up. With superspeedway racing out of the way for now, there’s every opportunity to do that.