MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
DRYDENE 400
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
OCTOBER 4, 2019
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 AAA CAMARO ZL1, Media Breakout Session Highlights:
TELL ME A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE HISTORY OF TALLADEGA AND WHAT THAT MEANS FOR YOU AND YOU’RE FAMILY.
“Yeah, it’s very cool. It’s where RCR pretty much got everything going. My grandfather gets all the recognition for that. It’s really cool that he’s going to drive the pace car. It’s going to be special to see him out there in the Dale Earnhardt car. I know he’s pumped for that. Hopefully we get the pole so we can push him around a little bit on the track.”
YOU GUYS HAVE BEEN FAST AT THOSE PLATE RACES. DO YOU LOOK FORWARD TO THOSE EVENTS?
“Yeah, I really enjoy it. All the Chevrolet cars worked really well together at these plate tracks. It’s given us two shots to win. I feel like as a company, we’ve been really close. We thought Daytona was going to be our shot to get into the Playoffs. Obviously, we wrecked right before the rain came trying to hold the lead. It will be fun and I’d love to get out there on the speedways and try to make it happen. It always gets interesting.”
AT THE SPEEDWAY TRACKS, WE’VE SEEN CHEVROLET WORKING WELL TOGETHER. HOW DID THAT TEAM WORK HELP?
“Well, I think it’s great having a guy behind you that you can trust. With a Chevy behind you, you know you have a little more freedom to look out the front. When you’re not looking out the back, it’s a good thing. I think that’s what happens at some of these races in the past where you’re constantly trying to guard who’s behind you because you don’t know if they are going to stay with you or not. When you have a teammate behind you that you know will follow you wherever you go, it definitely gives you that confidence to make moves and put yourself in a good position.”
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“It’s tough, but we’ve been able to make it work. I feel like Chevy has probably taken the most stage points, wins, and things like that at plate tracks this year. So, we’ve made it work with our numbers.”
WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION TO TYLER (REDDICK) COMING UP TO CUP?
“Tyler (Reddick) has been great for our team at RCR. He’s won some Xfinity races this year. We’ve had a couple of different teammates over the years and I feel like I’ve been competitive against all of them. Tyler will definitely push me. I feel like he’s really creative with his lines and not afraid to try different things. I’ve been looking for someone like this to come in and help. Everybody thinks he’s the guy that can do that, to help us elevate as a group at RCR. I think together we can do that.”
DID YOU EVER CROSS PATHS WITH TYLER (REDDICK) GROWING UP ON THE DIRT LATE MODEL SCENE?
“Yeah, I did. I watched Tyler (Reddick) dirt racing. I remember him and his long hair running the Bloomquist cars. All the hype was real, he got in the car and did a really good job at a young age. He’s not scared, he’s a good man.”
DID YOU THINK ALL THESE YEARS LATER YOU WOULD BE HIS CUP TEAMMATE?
“I think it’s cool, two guys with the same background in dirt late models racing the same team. I wish I could have ran more late model races. He started a little bit younger than I did, so he got to run some more tracks at different places. It definitely is cool to have two guys that come from a background of dirt late models in the Cup Series and working together.”
LOOKING AHEAD TO TALLADEGA, WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST IMPRESSION WHEN YOU TOOK TO THE TRACK FOR THE FIRST TIME?
“Man, it’s big. You get out there and I remember being in a truck for the first time, drafting, and seeing a guy stick his hand out the car waving like let’s go to push him. I was like how is he taking his hand off the wheel right now. I was so gripped up and intense because we were going so fast. But as you start relaxing, you get more comfortable and flowing at that place and it’s fun.”
TELL ME HOW YOU FELT IN PRACTICE.
“Man, this place is fast and exciting. Especially when you have a good car here, it’s fun. You see guys struggle really landing into the corner. It’s kind of fun because you can push those guys into making those mistakes. It’s hard to pass here obviously with the line being right on the bottom. But as the rubber lays down, you can kind of move up and make more moves.”
WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR THIS WEEKEND? CAN YOU TAKE ANYTHING FROM THE SPRING RACE TO HELP?
“Our car was really average the last time we were here. We definitely worked a lot on coming here to get it better. I feel like we are a little better right now than what we were. We were a sixteenth-place car last time and that’s what we were the whole race. I felt like I ran in that spot the whole race. So, hopefully we progressed and made the car better for the long haul and better overall. I felt like that last practice, we got it closer. We didn’t start as close as far as heights went, so that took us a little while to get it going. We’ll see what this next practice brings.”
CAN YOU TAKE MORE CHANCES SINCE YOU’RE NOT IN THE PLAYOFFS AT PLACES LIKE TALLADEGA?
“Yeah, you definitely try. You try and put yourself in a place to have a shot to win because it goes a long way going into next year.”
WHAT ABOUT THE MANUFACTURERS WORKING TOGETHER? SOME GUYS DON’T LIKE THAT.
“The drivers that don’t like it usually don’t have enough teammates I guess.”