NASCAR Legend Predicts Joe Gibbs “Will Have to Fight” Same Battles as Richard Childress Did With the “Silver Spoon Kid” Austin Dillon

Last weekend at the Daytona International Speedway, Austin Dillon snatched one of the final two playoff spots. However, looking back, the Richard Childress Racing driver has not had things easy in his NASCAR career. Since he is the grandson of Richard Childress, there is always a bit of a cloud hanging over him.

So, he and his grandfather have to go out of their way to get rid of the ‘nepotism’ shackle. In light of this, former NASCAR driver Jeff Burton spoke about Dillon and his Coke Zero Sugar 400 win.

He said, “It’s important. Austin is aware. He has self-awareness too, that with being Richard Childress’ grandson, it’s a different ball game.”

“He always has to fight, and Richard always has to fight the perception of favoritism.”

“Joe Gibbs will have to fight it with his grandson. It’s just, natural. People are always like, ‘He’s getting this, he’s getting that’. They’ve got to double down and show people that we’re not showing favoritism.”

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Will Austin Dillon ever get rid of that tag?

If we’re being completely honest, it will be difficult to simply shrug it off. There will always be haters and critics, so it is up to him to shut them up firmly.

At times, due to his Richard Childress connection, Dillon has been dubbed a ‘silver spoon kid’ and people believe the seat was handed on a platter. In a similar vein, one has to feel sorry for drivers who come from rich racing pedigrees or have a NASCAR connection.

Chase Elliott, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Kyle Petty, Ty Gibbs, and Ryan Blaney fall under this category. Even the likes of Todd Gilliland, Cody Ware, Harrison Burton, and others would have faced this at some point.

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To Dillon’s credit, this Coke Zero Sugar 400 win takes his tally to 4 career wins in the Cup Series. So he is on the right track to prove a point to his haters and critics.