“It Was a Struggle” – Richard Childress’ Grandson Relishes His New Opportunity After a Struggling 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Season

The NASCAR Cup Series in 2023 was a story of two halves. One with the drivers who pushed through the challenges for good standings, while some couldn’t get any momentum going for them. Unfortunately, for Austin Dillon, he belonged to the latter group. It is even more challenging for those with a family legacy to carry, which is the case with RCR’s No.3.

His grandfather and legendary team owner Richard Childress and father Mike Dillon both have had their share of NASCAR racing. Now the family’s hope lies in Austin Dillon. Having made the playoffs in 2022, the 2023 season was a steep fall for him in the points standings. Winless throughout the season and just seven top-10 finishes resulted in 29th place in the drivers’ table. Now with the 2024 season in sight, Dillon is looking to overcome last year’s struggles and set the tone early in the season.

Austin Dillon is looking to build momentum for his 2024 Cup Series season

The former Daytona 500 winner really struggled to find his footing on the oval tracks and the superspeedways. The only bright spot of his whole season came at Bristol on the dirt surface where he finished third. However, after the Martinsville race, everything started to fall apart for Dillon as he struggled to stay afloat with competition. Moreover, he had the most DNFs with 10 which further added to his woes during the season.

Trying to bounce back from a nightmare season, Dillon in an interview with Bob Pockrass from FOX, explained how 2024 will be different than the 2023 season. “The biggest thing is it’s a new year 2024 and not 2023. So 2023 was rough, new number of the year and so just looking forward to getting momentum started early and carrying it throughout the year. That’s the biggest thing, last year was a struggle.

“After Martinsville pretty much, we got into a lot of wrecks, and different things happened. More DNFs I think I’ve ever had in my career, so try to turn that around this year.” When asked whether he was trying to push hard which resulted in DNFs, Dillon further explained, “I don’t think I was doing anything differently. I mean look at some of the things that happened in crashed with Reddick at Pocono and Cindric at St. Louis. Man, if you don’t take the spots when you get them, it’s tough out there.”

Read More: Kyle Busch Reveals the Tall Order Required to End Richard Childress’ 30 Years Championship Drought

It wasn’t just Dillon who struggled to find his footing last season, the two-time Cup champion and new addition to RCR, Kyle Busch suffered a similar fate.

No.3 driver’s new teammate had plenty of off-track issues dragging him down in 2023

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Kyle Busch made a big switch from Joe Gibbs Racing to RCR for the 2023 NASCAR season. The No.8 from RCR is in his prime years and is always amongst the championship contenders. But that was not the case last year despite clinching three wins. Although he reached the playoffs, he had to be content with 14th place in the championship. 2023 in particular was tough for Busch apart from making the big switch from JGR.

Busch had to sell off his Kyle Busch Motorsports truck team, the shop, and his race-car manufacturing business to Spire Motorsports. Moreover, he also had to shut down his Rowdy Energy Drink beverage company owing to declining business and multiple legal issues. “We were talking about shutting it down in April-May. And then all the lawsuits came before it closed. We were just trying to get rid of the rest of the product that we had in stock.” Busch said recently as per a Fox Sports report.

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Both Austin Dillon and Kyle Busch have proved that they can win Cup races. Therefore RCR will be looking to get them refueled and prepared for the next season’s challenges.