Austin Dillon embraces role of Chase underdog: ‘I want to keep upsetting these guys’

The second round of NASCAR’s playoffs is filled with a cavalcade of big names holding a robust résumé of accomplishments at the sport’s highest level.

There are a combined 11 Sprint Cup Series championships and 314 victories, and six of the 12 quarterfinalists have been named Rookie of the Year (this includes current rookie Chase Elliott, who will with all certainty capture the award this season).

But amid the 12 drivers still championship eligible, it is 26-year-old Austin Dillon who is the outlier having never won a Cup title or race, nor earned Rookie of the Year honors. If you want to call him an underdog, it’s a label he won’t reject.

“It’s time to knock some more of these guys out because we’ve got this opportunity,” Dillon said, “and I want to say that we’re going to be the underdog in this next round, so let’s go do it.”

Dillon earned his spot in Round 2 with an eighth-place finish Sunday at Dover International Speedway. Among those he beat out for the final transfer position were three-time series champion Tony Stewart, Kyle Larson, widely regarded as NASCAR’s next superstar, and Jamie McMurray, a previous Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 winner.

Although a former Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series champion, Dillon largely had middling success in his two previous season racing in NASCAR’s top division before a breakout 2016 campaign featuring steady consistency netted his first Chase for the Sprint Cup berth.

But even then, the stats don’t lie and it is a surprise the grandson of team owner Richard Childress still remains in the playoffs. Dillon has all of six career top-five finishes and led all of 57 laps this season. For the sake of comparison, the rookie Elliott has nine top-five finishes and 239 laps led despite starting 80 fewer races.

To get this far, Dillon needed bad luck to strike Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Larson and McMurray on Sunday, which it did in the form of a faulty electrical system and overeager crewmember for Larson, and a blown engine for McMurray.

Capitalizing on the opportunity before him, Dillon recorded his first-ever top 10 at Dover. Afterward, he had a hard time comprehending the moment.

“I am still awestruck because things like this just don’t happen,” Dillon said.

Going forward, Dillon will have a tall order to avoid elimination. Of 12 title contenders, he is the only one without a teammate also competing for the championship. And though RCR’s cars have been solid, they pale to the speed showcased by the five Toyota teams, the Hendrick Motorsports-powered cars of Elliott, Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, and Kurt Busch, and Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano.

And yet, Dillon remains buoyant. He considers Charlotte Motor Speedway, the site of Saturday night’s Round 2 opener, one of his better tracks, and in the spring he finished sixth at Kansas Speedway and a career-best third at Talladega Superspeedway.

“I am proud to be going on to the final 12 and having race cars that are capable of moving on,” he said. “I have three really solid tracks coming up and I am going to drive the wheels off of it and have fun.”

Considering he wasn’t even supposed to get this far, Dillon’s confidence is justifiable. After all, he is in effect playing with house money. And of course, every playoff needs a Cinderella, a role he’s more than willing to embrace.

“I want to keep upsetting these guys,” Dillon told NBC Sports. “There’s a lot of guys in this that don’t think that we should be here, and I’m proud to be a car that’s here.”